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SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 


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SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 


THE  STORY  OF  AN  AMHERST  BOY 


BY 
CHARLES  S.   WALKER 

PRESIDENT  OF  THE  AMHERST 
HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 


AMHERST,   MASS. 
1922 


THE  JONES  LIBRARY  INCORPORATED 
AMHERST,  MASSACHUSETTS 


PUBLICATION  NO.  1.     SEPTEMBER.  1922 


CorviiK.HT.    I022.   ii v 
Thk  Junks   Likraky,   Inc. 


THIS  LITTLE  BOOK  IS  DEDICATED  TO  THE 
BOYS  AND  GIRLS  OF  AMHERST,  FOR  WHOM 
THE  JONES  LIBRARY  WAS  FOUNDED  AND 
TO  WHOM  IT  IS  GIVEN  FOR  SELF-CULTURE 
AND     FOR    THE     SERVICE     OF     MANKIND 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 
FOREWORD 

Amherst,  mother  of  men,  has  had  many  children, 
soldiers  and  scholars,  readers  and  writers,  tillers  of  the 
soil  and  master  craftsmen,  adventurers  and  missionaries 
of  the  cross :  but  no  one  of  these  has  been  more  grateful, 
or  shown  his  gratitude  in  a  more  fitting  manner,  than 
Samuel  Minot  Jones.  He  received  both  from  his  father 
and  from  his  mother  those  traits  of  New  England  char- 
acter, developed  in  a  long  line  of  ancestors,  physical 
strength  and  intellectual  vigor,  magnanimity  of  soul  and 
decision  of  character,  industry  and  perseverance,  public 
spirit  and  patriotism,  morality  and  religious  faith,  which 
he  so  utilized  as  to  make  himself  always  the  man  for  the 
emergency,  a  brave  soldier,  a  pioneer  in  unbeaten  paths, 
a  successful  business  man,  a  loving  son,  brother,  hus- 
band, father  and  friend,  and  a  public  benefactor. 


CONTENTS 

I.     Heredity 1 

II.     Birth  and  Early  Education 12 

III.     The  Soldier  in  the  Civil  War 53 

IV.      The  Man  of  Business 68 

V.      Private  Life 77 

VI.      The  Jones  Library 87 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


Samuel  Minot  Jones 

The  Minot  House,  Dorchester,  Mass.    . 
Mary  Minot's  House,  Enfield,  Mass. 

Thomas  Jones 

The  Thomas  Jones  House,  Enfield,  Mass.   . 
Interior     of    the     Thomas     Jones     House, 

Enfield,  Mass 

"The    Homestead    on    the    Hill,"    Amherst, 

Mass 

Amherst    Academy 

Cutler's   Store 

The  Meeting  House 

Amherst  Landscape,  Holyoke  Range,  1840 

The  Morristown  Home 

The  Morristown  Study 

Mrs.  Harriet  Stenger  Jones  and  Son    . 

Minot    Jones 

The  Jones  Library   Board  of  Trustees 


Few 


Frontispiece 
ng  page  7 
9 
11 
13 

15 

17 
37 
43 
45 
51 
75 
81 
83 
85 
91 


CHAPTER  I 
HEREDITY 

Samuel  Minot  Jones  was  born  in  Enfield,  Massachu- 
setts, September  16,  1836.  His  mother  was  Mary  Hub- 
bard (Field)  Jones,  a  lineal  descendant  of  Hubertus 
de  la  Field  who  came  from  Colmar  near  Strasburg  in 
Alsatia  on  the  German  border  of  France.  He  was  a 
member  of  the  family  of  the  Counts  de  la  Field,  who 
resided  at  Colmar  as  early  as  the  sixth  century.  He 
came  to  England  with  William  the  Conqueror  in  1066, 
and  in  1068  held  land  in  Lancaster,  granted  to  him  by 
the  Conqueror  for  military  service. 

Zechariah  Field,  of  a  later  generation,  who  was  the 
son  of  John  Field  and  grandson  of  Sir  John  Field,  was 
born  in  Ardsly,  England,  in  1600  and  emigrated  to 
Boston  and  settled  in  Dorchester  in  1630.  He  moved 
to  Hartford,  Connecticut,  in  1636  and  came  to  Hadley 
in  1659  and  to  Northampton  later.  In  1663  he  went  to 
Hatfield,  where  he  died  in  1669.  His  youngest  son, 
Joseph  Field,  settled  in  Sunderland,  on  the  site  of  the 
present  Congregational  Church,  and  died  February  15, 
1736.  Joseph's  son  Jonathan  married  Esther  Smith  of 
Hatfield  and  in  1752  moved  to  Long  Plain,  Leverett. 
He  was  a  Captain  in  the  Indian  Wars  and  a  brave 
soldier.  His  son,  Seth  Field,  born  in  1741,  married 
Mary  Hubbard  of  Sunderland  in  1764  and  settled  in 

1 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

Leverett.  Martin  Field,  the  third  son  of  Seth,  born 
January  12,  1778,  was  a  graduate  of  Williams  College 
in  1798,  studied  law  in  Chester,  Vermont,  and  practiced 
his  profession  in  Xewfane.  Vermont.  He  was  attor- 
ney of  Windham  County,  a  member  of  the  General 
Assembly,  and  Major  General  of  the  First  Division  of 
the  Vermont  Militia. 

General  Field,  February  21,  1802,  married  Esther 
Smith  Kellogg,  daughter  of  Daniel  Kellogg  of  Am- 
herst, who  died  June  6,  1867.  She  was  educated  at 
Maplewood  Seminary  in  Pittsfield,  Massachusetts.  On 
her  return  home  she  decorated  the  parlor  of  her  father's 
house  with  mural  paintings  illustrating  agricultural 
scenes.  She  was  a  woman  of  fine  personal  appearance 
and  of  many  accomplishments.  Her  father  served  as 
selectman  of  Amherst  and  as  a  soldier  in  the  Revolution. 
His  father,  Daniel,  born  in  Hadley,  came  to  Amherst 
about  17-4.5  and  settled  on  East  Street.  The  only 
daughter  of  General  Martin  Field  and  Esther  Smith 
Kellogg  was  Mary  Hubbard  Field,  the  mother  of 
Samuel  Minot  Jones.  She  was  born  in  Xewfane,  Ver- 
mont, September  13,  1804.  She  was  educated  at  the 
famous  school  of  Emma  Willard  in  Troy,  Xew  York. 
Her  brother.  Roswell  Martin  Field,  was  the  Xestor  of 
the  Missouri  Bar  and  the  father  of  Eugene  Field,  the 
poet.  She  married  Theodore  Francis  French,  a  leading 
merchant  of  Troy,  Xew  York,  who  died  September  11, 
1828.  They  had  three  children,  Mary  Field  French, 
born  June  30,  1825.  died  April  15,  1900:  Theodore 
Francis  French,  born  May  3.  1827.  died  June  30.  1828: 
Theodore  F.  French,  born  December  11,  1828,  died 
September    21,    1805.      For    her    second    husband    she 


HEREDITY 

married,  December  24,  1835,  Thomas  Jones  and  left 
Xewfane,  Vermont,  to  make  a  new  home  in  Enfield, 
Massachusetts. 

Thomas  Jones,  the  father  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones, 
was  a  lineal  descendant  of  John  Jones,  who  died  June 
22,  1673,  and  whose  wife  was  named  Dorcas.  Their 
son,  Samuel  Jones,  was  born  in  Cambridge,  Massachu- 
setts, in  1648,  married  Elizabeth  Potter  January  16, 
1672,  and  died  in  1717.  Samuel's  son  Xathaniel  was 
born  in  1676,  married  Mary  Rait,  September  1,  1696, 
and  died  March  22,  174.5.  Their  son  Elnathan,  born 
March  29,  1697,  married  September  22,  1721,  Hannah 
Pierce,  born  1701,  died  1730.  He  died  July  29,  1772. 
Elnathan  Jones,  Jr.,  the  father  of  Thomas  Jones,  was 
born  the  son  of  Elnathan  Jones  and  Hannah  Pierce  in 
1736,  married  Mary  Minot  February  10,  1774,  and  died 
February  27,  1793.  He  was  a  prominent  citizen  of 
Concord,  Massachusetts,  and  a  prosperous  merchant 
engaged  in  the  East  India  trade.  Thomas  Jones  was 
born  March  6,  1787,  and  died  in  Amherst  October  21, 
1853. 

Mary  Minot,  the  grandmother  of  Samuel  Minot 
Jones,  after  whom  he  was  named,  was  a  remarkable 
woman,  inheriting  the  best  traits  from  a  distinguished 
ancestry.  She  was  the  eighth  child  of  Deacon  Samuel 
Minot  of  Concord,  Massachusetts,  and  the  fifth  child  of 
his  second  wife,  Dorcas  Prescott,  whom  he  married  in 
1738.  He  died  in  Concord  March  17,  1766,  and  Dorcas 
died  June  13,  1803.  aged  ninety-one  years.  Mary 
Minot  was  born  October  5,  1755,  and  died  December  20, 
1845,  aged  ninety  years. 

Deacon  Samuel  Minot  was  born  March  25,  1706,  the 

3 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JOXES 

son  of  James  Minot,  the  tenth  child.  This  James  Minot, 
Mary's  grandfather,  was  born  September  14,  1653,  was 
graduated  from  Harvard  College  in  167.5,  studied 
divinity  and  physic  and  kept  the  grammar  school  in 
Dorchester  in  1679.  Later  he  moved  to  Concord, 
Massachusetts,  where  he  practiced  medicine  and  taught 
school.  In  168.5  he  was  preaching  in  Stow.  He  served 
as  justice  of  the  peace  in  1692.  He  was  a  Captain  in 
the  militia  and  represented  his  town  in  the  legislature. 
He  was  a  man  of  versatile  talents  and  of  sterling  char- 
acter. He  married  Rebecca  Wheeler,  daughter  of  Cap- 
tain Timothy  Wheeler,  the  founder  of  the  ministerial 
fund  in  Concord,  and  inherited  the  homestead  of  his 
father-in-law  near  the  residence  of  the  Hon.  Daniel 
Shattuck,  where  he  died  September  20,  173.5,  at  the  age 
of  eighty-three. 

These  epitaphs  in  the  Hill  burying  ground,  Concord, 
where  he  and  his  wife  were  buried,  bear  testimony  to 
the  high  esteem  in  which  both  were  held  by  their 
contemporaries. 

Here  is  interred  the  remains  of 

James  Minott  Esq.  A.  M.  an 

Excelling  Grammarian,  enriched 

with  the  gift  of  prayer  and  preaching. 

A  Commanding  officer,  a  Physician  of  (Treat  Value, 

a  Great  Lover  of  Peace  as  well  as  of  justice  and. 

which  was  His  greatest  Glory,  a  Gent  "n  of  distinguished 

Virtue  and  Goodness,  happy  in  a  Virtuous   Posterity, 

and  living  religiously  died  Comfortably, 

September  20.  173.5  Aet  S3. 

4 


HEREDITY 

Hero  is  interred  the  body  of 
Mrs.  Rebecca  Minott  Ye  Virtuous 
Consort  of  James  Minott,  Esq. 
and  daughter  of  Capt.  Timothy  Wheeler. 
She  was  a  person  of  Serious  piety  and  abounding 
Charity,  of  great  usefulness  in  Her  Day  and  a  pattern 
of  Patience  and  Holy  Submission  under  a  long  Con- 
finement and  resigned  Her  Soul  with  joy  in  her  Re- 
deemer, September  23,  1735.     Aged  68. 

This  famous  James  Minott  was  the  second  son  of 
Capt.  John  Minott  and  Lydia  Butler  of  Dorchester, 
whose  estate  was  valued  at  £978/5.  He  was  born 
April  2,  1626,  and  married  Lydia  Butler  May  19,  1647. 
Captain  John's  father  was  Elder  George  Minott,  who 
was  the  son  of  Thomas  Minott,  Esq.,  of  Saffron, 
Walden,  Essex,  England,  born  August  4,  1594. 

This  Thomas  Minott  was  among  the  first  Pilgrim 
emigrants  in  Massachusetts  and  the  first  settlers  of 
Dorchester.  His  residence  was  near  Xeponset  Bridge 
and  he  owned  the  land  which  has  been  known  as  S quan- 
tum. He  was  a  freeman  in  1634,  representative  of  the 
town  1635-1636  and  for  thirty  years  a  ruling  elder  in 
the  church.  He  died  December  24,  1671,  with  an  estate 
valued  at  £277/7/7.  His  death  was  much  lamented  by 
the  town  whose  weal  he  sought  and  whose  liberties  he 
defended.  He  was  contemporary  with  Elder  Hum- 
phrey. In  the  ancient  Dorchester  burying  ground  these 
quaint  lines  carved  on  the  tombstone  tell  the  story  of 
his  service: 

Here  lie  the  bodies  of  Unite  Humphrey  and  Shining  Minot. 
Such  names  as  these,  they  never  die  not. 

5 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

A  picture  of  the  house  in  Dorchester  occupied  by 
Elder  George  Minott  has  been  preserved  and  used  to 
illustrate  Winsor's  "History  of  Boston."  President 
Timothy  Dwight  of  Yale  College  tells  a  story  of  an 
incident  connected  with  this  house  which  gives  a  vivid 
impression  of  the  courage,  self-control  and  heroism 
which  marked  even  the  women  and  children  of  the  house- 
hold of  the  Minott  family  in  those  early  times. 

While  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Minott  were  absent,  hav- 
ing gone  to  Boston,  an  Indian,  left  by  a  roving  band, 
attempted  to  avenge  his  chief  for  some  fancied  injury 
caused  by  Elder  Minott's  refusal  to  grant  a  demand  for 
supplies.  This  Indian,  coming  out  of  the  bushes  where 
he  had  been  concealed,  tried  to  enter  the  house,  but  failed 
because  the  maid,  warned  by  her  master,  had  barred  the 
door.  Concealing  the  two  children  under  brass  kettles 
with  instructions  to  keep  quiet,  she  seized  a  musket  and 
guarded  the  house.  The  redman's  shot  missed  its  mark, 
but  returning  the  fire  the  maid  shot  him  through  the 
shoulder.  Ignoring  his  wound  the  man  made  a  rush  to 
climb  in  the  window.  Here  he  was  stopped  by  a  shovel- 
ful of  red-hot  coals  thrown  in  his  face.  He  fled  to  the 
woods,  where  his  dead  body  was  found  the  next  day. 
For  this  act  of  heroism  the  girl  was  honored  by  the  Gov- 
ernment of  Massachusetts  Bay,  from  which  she  re- 
ceived a  silver  wristband  with  the  motto  inscribed  upon 
it,  "She  slew  the  Xarrhaganset  Hunter." 

Such  were  the  ancestors  of  Mary  Minot.  From  them 
she  inherited  intellectual  power,  varied  talents,  a  strong 
body,  brilliant  traits  and  a  resolute  spirit.  In  The  Jones 
Iiibrary  is  preserved  a  rare  volume,  a  quarto,  bound  in 
calfskin,  showing  the  marks  of  long  use.     It  was  pub- 

6 


i&^^AJHfi 


HEREDITY 

lished  1766  in  London  by  Mark  Baskett.  It  contains 
the  Apocrypha  and  the  following  inscription:  "Mary 
Minott.  Her  Bible.  The  Gift  of  her  mother,  Dorcas 
Minott,  November  27,  1766."  Mary  was  only  eleven 
years  old  when  she  received  this  precious  volume  which 
she  kept  until  her  death,  using  it  for  eighty  years  as  the 
light  of  her  pathway,  and  then  bequeathing  it  as  a  rich 
legacy  to  her  children.  In  it  she  recorded  the  birth  of 
her  seven  children,  three  daughters  and  four  sons.  Here 
also  is  recorded  her  own  death  and  that  of  her  children 
and  grandchildren,  as  well  as  their  marriages. 

Mrs.  Mary  Minot  Jones  was  a  leader  in  the  social 
circles  of  Concord  in  her  day,  a  famous  beauty,  whose 
portrait  Gilbert  Stuart  was  pleased  to  paint.  As  the 
wife  of  Captain  Elnathan  Jones,  the  successful  East 
India  merchant,  her  home  was  filled  with  the  treasures 
of  the  Orient,  many  of  which  were  long  preserved  as 
heirlooms  in  the  family.  During  the  Revolutionary 
War,  Captain  Jones  and  his  wife  were  among  the  lead- 
ing patriots. 

"There  were  received,"  so  the  records  of  those  days 
show,  "from  Mr.  Daniel  Cheever  of  Charlestown  20 
loads  of  stores  containing  20,000  pounds  of  musket  balls 
and  cartridges,  50  reams  of  cartridge  paper,  206  tents, 
113  iron  spades,  51  wood  axes,  201  bill  hooks,  19  sets  of 
harnesses,  24  boxes  of  candles,  14  chests  of  medicine,  27 
hogsheads  of  wooden  ware,  1  hogshead  of  matches,  20 
bushels  of  oatmeal,  5  iron  worms  for  cannon,  rammers, 
etc."  These  were  stored  at  Captain  Elnathan  Jones', 
Joshua  Bonds',  W.  Houghby  Prescott's,  James  Hay- 
wood's, Colonel  Barrett's  and  the  town  house,  and  5 
tierces  of  rice  at  Deacon  George  Minott's. 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

Hearing  of  these  stores,  the  British  sent  out  anexpedi- 
tion  from  Boston  to  seize  them.  But  when  the  soldiers 
came  to  Captain  Elnathan  Jones'  East  India  Ware- 
house where  many  supplies  were  concealed,  Mary 
Minott,  the  Captain's  wife,  was  equal  to  the  occasion. 
She  invited  the  British  officers  into  her  parlor,  served 
them  the  best  wine  and  entertained  them  with  games  of 
cards  played  on  her  mahogany  table.  Her  fascinating 
and  charming  hospitality  proved  so  attractive  that  her 
guests  forgot  all  about  the  supplies  until  the  patriots 
had  sufficient  time  to  remove  them  to  a  place  of  safety. 
Ralph  Waldo  Emerson  and  others  have  told  this  story 
of  Mary  Minott's  quick  wit  and  patriotic  service,  for 
the  inspiration  of  her  posterity. 

Mrs.  Mary  Minot  Jones  on  her  wedding  day,  when 
she  married  for  her  second  husband  Robert  Field,  Esq., 
made  a  sensation  as  she  came  into  the  church  beautifully 
dressed.  Her  bonnet  was  the  latest  creation  of  the 
Boston  milliners.  Her  second  husband  was  a  justice  of 
the  peace,  selectman  for  five  years,  representative  of  the 
town  in  the  legislature  1801-1804,  an  innkeeper,  a  manu- 
facturer and  for  many  years  a  leading  man  in  the  com- 
munity. It  was  in  his  honor  that,  when  the  southern  dis- 
trict of  Greenwich  was  constituted  a  town  by  itself,  it 
was  called  Enfield.  The  house  lie  built  in  177(>,  to  which 
lie  took  his  new  wife,  still  stands,  although  one  only  of 
the  two  elms  that  shaded  it  now  survives.  Mrs.  Mary 
Minot  Field's  reputation  as  a  good  cook  and  house- 
keeper as  well  as  leader  in  society  still  persists  and  her 
recipe  for  cake  has  been  handed  down  from  mother  to 
daughter. 

Mary  Minot   was  the  mother   of   seven  children,   of 

8 


HEREDITY 

whom  three  were  girls  and  four  boys.  After  the  Revolu- 
tion times  changed.  The  East  India  trade  was  no 
longer  prosperous.  Her  husband  died  February  27, 
1793.  Ten  years  later,  May  8, 1803,  she  married  Robert 
Field,  Esq.,  who  had  fought  at  Bunker  Hill,  and  went 
to  live  in  a  fine  house  which  he  built  in  Enfield,  where 
her  sons  developed  the  water  power  and  manufactured 
satinets  and  other  fabrics.  One  of  their  factories  was 
named  the  Minot  Mill.  Her  son,  Samuel  Jones,  died  in 
Enfield  September  26,  1819.  The  three  remaining  sons, 
Elnathan,  Marshall  and  Thomas,  carried  on  the  business 
for  many  years  and  their  families  became  the  patrons  of 
the  industrial,  social  and  religious  life  of  the  community. 
Dr.  Francis  H.  Underwood  in  his  story  of  Enfield, 
written  in  1892,  gives  the  following  account  of  the  life 
there  of  Mary  Minot  and  her  sons:  "A  few  houses  in  the 
village  had  an  indefinable  charm  for  those  who  remem- 
bered their  former  occupants.  There  is  one  in  a  com- 
manding position  near  the  crossroads  which  is  venerable 
in  slow  decay,  and  out  of  relations  with  modern  neigh- 
bors. Two  ancient  elms  tower  over  the  grounds  and 
are  seen  afar.  One  of  the  patriots  who  fought  at  Bunker 
Hill  built  the  house,  then  considered  a  mansion.  His 
wife,  the  descendant  of  a  Huguenot  family,  had  three 
sons  by  a  former  marriage;  and  these  in  their  maturity, 
were  the  only  persons  in  Quabbin  (the  name  by  which 
Enfield  was  then  known)  that  could  in  the  strict  sense 
be  called  Gentlemen.  The  bright  old  lady  long  sur- 
vived her  husband  and  made  a  striking  picture  as  she 
moved  about  in  her  wheeled-chair,  accompanied  by  one 
of  her  sons,  a  grave  and  stately  man  who  lived  with  her. 
Another  son  built  a  dwelling  nearer  the  meeting  house. 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

It  appeared  to  be  the  dream  of  some  inspired  carpenter, 
a  dream  of  wooden  pilasters,  wreaths  and  scrolls,  with 
a  fretwork  balustrade  of  wheel  patterns  upon  the  eaves 
and  an  arched  and  decorated  gateway  all  in  a  glittering 
white.  Hillside  terraces  at  the  rear  with  flower  beds  and 
fruit  trees  were  to  youthful  eyes  like  the  hanging 
gardens  of  Babylon.  The  owner,  with  his  tropical  com- 
plexion of  pale  orange,  his  gold-rimmed  spectacles  and 
his  distinguished  manners,  in  which  dignity,  courtesy 
and  kindness  had  equal  share,  was  a  wonderful  person  in 
Quabbin  society  years  ago.  For  he  had  actually  sailed 
around  the  world;  his  cheeks  had  acquired  their  rich 
color  in  China,  where  he  had  been  a  tea  merchant;  the 
bronze  idols  and  the  great  vases  that  adorned  his  rooms 
had  come  from  farthest  East.  Besides  he  knew  Euro- 
pean capitals,  and  along  with  his  well-earned  wealth,  he 
had  brought  to  the  village  an  aroma  from  spice  lands, 
a  knowledge  of  the  world,  and  the  grand  air  that  so 
becomes  a  traveled  man. 

"The  third  of  the  brothers,  a  manufacturer,  built  a 
fine  house,  but  with  less  ornament,  on  a  knoll  not  far 
distant.  All  three  could  have  been  presented  with  credit 
at  any  court.  They  spoke  the  language  of  the  educated 
world;  but,  along  with  their  somewhat  ceremonious 
manners  they  had  a  sense  of  what  was  due  to  others, 
especially  to  humble  neighbors,  and  as  they  were  public 
spirited,  just  and  generous,  they  were  respected  and 
loved.  No  one  envied  them  their  good  fortune — a  rare 
experience  whether  in  Quabbin  or  elsewhere. 

"The  sombre  old  house  with  its  two  elms  connected  the 
village  with  the  by-gone  days  of  the  Colony;  and  the 

10 


HUM  \-     JONKS 


HEREDITY 

little  old  lady,  while  she  lived,  was  a  link  with  the  great 
world,  as  her  family  was  justly  distinguished 

"A  circle  of  brilliant  associations  ended  for  Quabbin 
when  the  places  of  the  three  brothers  knew  them  no 
more.  Relatives  from  the  county  town  and  from  Boston 
used  to  enliven  the  village  and  the  country  roads  in  sum- 
mer, charming  and  cultivated  ladies,  budding  clergymen 
and  lawyers,  the  usual  gathering  of  people  of  leisure  at 
hospitable  country  houses.  After  the  end  of  the  old 
regime  they  came  no  more.  Neither  the  balustraded  villa 
near  the  meeting  house,  nor  the  ancient,  sombre,  elm- 
shaded  mansion,  ever  knew  again  the  gaietv  of  former 
days." 

The  youngest  of  these  three  sons  of  Mary  Minot  was 
Thomas  Jones,  the  father  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones.  He 
married  for  his  first  wife  Elizabeth  M.  Lyman  of  North- 
ampton, June  3,  1829.  In  1820,  he  and  his  brother, 
Marshall  Jones,  organized  the  Swift  Manufacturing 
Company,  which  for  eleven  years  manufactured  satinets. 
This  company  was  succeeded  by  the  Minot  Company, 
in  which  Marshall  Jones  was  the  senior  partner. 


11 


CHAPTER  II 
BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

Thomas  Jones,  in  1829,  bought  four  acres  of  land, 
including  a  knoll  in  the  village  of  Enfield  near  the  cross- 
roads, and  built  upon  this  site  a  commodious  country- 
house  to  which  he  brought  from  Northampton  his  first 
wife.  She  was  the  mother  of  his  two  sons,  Thomas  and 
William.  After  her  death  he  married  Mary  Hubbard 
Field  French,  the  widow  of  Theodore  Francis  French. 
When  she  became  mistress  of  the  Enfield  home,  the 
family  included  her  daughter,  Mary  Field  French,  ten 
years  old,  and  her  son  Theodore,  aged  seven,  in  addition 
to  the  two  sons  of  Mr.  Jones. 

The  house  was  none  too  large  for  such  a  household. 
It  was  thoroughly  built  and  stands  today,  after  ninety- 
three  years'  service,  one  of  the  best  residences  in  the 
town.  The  front,  forty  feet  in  width,  is  shaded  by  the 
spreading  branches  of  elms  and  maples.  The  depth  is 
one  hundred  feet,  including  the  annex  in  the  rear.  A 
large  broad  hall  is  entered  through  a  wide  door  fastened 
with  a  double  lock.  The  front  and  back  parlors  are 
separated  by  folding  doors  which,  when  opened,  make 
a  capacious  apartment  for  entertaining  many  guests. 
The  floors  are  southern  pine.  The  mantel  over  the  fire- 
place and  the  rest  of  the  woodwork  are  decorated  with 
hand  carving.     The  dining-room  is  connected   with  an 

12 


■^r^^' 


BIRTH  AXD  EARLY  EDUCATION 

ample  kitchen  which  contained  the  open  fireplace  and 
the  brick  oven.  There  is  one  bedroom  on  the  ground 
floor  and  five  on  the  second  floor.  The  stairs  leading  up 
from  the  front  hall  are  beautifully  carved  and  protected 
by  a  handsome  baluster. 

A  broad  sandstone  step  leads  up  to  the  front  door. 
The  addition  to  the  southwest  afforded  opportunity  for 
the  many  household  tasks  essential  to  the  support  of 
family  life  in  the  first  half  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
The  outbuildings  were  suited  to  the  mansion  house. 
From  the  lawn  at  the  rear  of  the  house  and  from  the 
upper  windows  an  extensive  view  of  the  valley  and 
surrounding  hills  toward  the  south  and  west  can  be 
obtained. 

In  this  fine  homestead,  one  of  the  best  in  the  town, 
Samuel  Minot  Jones  was  born  September  16,  1836,  and 
here  he  spent  the  first  three  years  of  his  life.  The  infant 
boy  had  the  best  of  care,  with  pure  air  to  breathe  and 
food  that  gave  strength  to  his  muscles  and  vitality  to  his 
nervous  system. 

But  it  was  fortunate  for  him  that  Enfield  should  not 
remain  his  home  for  the  years  of  his  youth.  Shut  in  on 
all  sides  by  hills  and  mountains,  the  narrow  valley  fur- 
nished scant  subsistence  for  the  farmers,  while  the  sterile 
hillsides,  in  spite  of  the  toil  expended  upon  their  stony 
acres,  produced  a  class  of  people  devoid  of  culture  and 
denied  opportunities  for  developing  the  best  elements 
of  manhood.  Intemperance  prevailed  and  immorality 
was  common  in  the  back  districts.  The  schools  were  of 
an  inferior  grade.  The  Calvinistic  doctrines  of  the 
Puritan  Church  tended  to  give  a  somber  cast  to  religious 

13 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

life.  Few  were  elected  to  be  saved  and  the  broad  way 
was  crowded  with  multitudes. 

The  Jones  brothers  and  their  friends  brought  with 
them  from  Concord  a  new  element  of  progressive  civil- 
ization. The  East  India  trade  having  been  made  profit- 
less by  the  War  of  1812,  the  Jones  family  turned  to 
manufacturing  to  supply  the  demand  for  goods  which 
household  industries  could  no  longer  provide.  In  En- 
field they  found  in  Swift  River  a  good  water  power 
and  in  the  people  good  operatives,  which  discovery  justi- 
fied the  erection  of  the  Minot  mill  and  other  factories 
that  for  a  time  brought  wealth  to  the  owners  and  pros- 
perity to  the  community.  But  conditions  soon  changed. 
The  panic  of  1837  unsettled  the  business  of  the  whole 
country.  Moreover,  the  construction  of  the  Boston  & 
Albany  trunk  line  of  railroad  left  Enfield  and  its  fac- 
tories unable  to  compete  with  other  mills  whose  raw 
material  and  finished  products  could  be  transported  by 
steam. 

The  Swift  Company  failed  in  1837  and  Thomas  Jones 
was  obliged  to  seek  his  fortune  elsewhere.  Having 
friends  in  Northampton  and  Leverett  he  found  in  Am- 
herst a  new  field  for  his  business  ability.  In  addition 
to  its  manufacturing  facilities  Amherst's  social  and  edu- 
cational advantages  appealed  to  him  and  his  wife  with 
their  family  of  boys  and  girls  for  whom  Enfield  schools 
provided  no  adequate  means  for  education. 

In  North  Amherst  were  a  good  water  power  and  a 
community  able  to  furnish  the  needed  working  people. 
Thomas  Jones  therefore  closed  his  business  in  Enfield 
and  made  a  new  start  in  Amherst.  In  March,  1839,  he 
sold  his  Enfield  house  to  Alvin  Smith  and  April  26  of 

14 


«ata^      — 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

the  same  year  he  made  a  contract  with  Robert  Cutler 
that  he  should  build  a  house  on  Amity  Street  in  Amherst 
as  good  as  the  one  he  had  built  in  Oak  Grove  for  Luke 
Sweetser.  It  should  be  located  on  the  two  acres  of  land 
bought  of  Elisha  Pomeroy  Cutler.  It  must  have  two 
stories,  the  ceilings  eleven  feet  high  on  the  first  floor  and 
ten  feet  on  the  second,  and  there  must  be  a  piazza  forty- 
two  feet  long  with  balustrades  on  top. 

Into  this  house  Samuel  Minot  Jones  was  taken  when 
he  was  three  years  old  and  in  it  he  spent  his  boyhood  and 
youth.  It  was,  as  his  father  intended  it  to  be,  one  of  the 
best  houses  in  the  town  and  is  today  a  beautiful  mansion. 
For  a  generation  it  was  a  center  of  Amherst  business, 
social  and  religious  life.  Here,  after  her  husband's 
death,  Mrs.  Jones  from  1864  to  1876  took  care  of  her 
two  nephews,  Eugene  Field  and  his  brother  Roswell, 
whom  her  daughter,  Mary  Field  French,  taught  Eng- 
lish literature.  In  this  house,  largely  through  the  influ- 
ence of  Mrs.  Jones,  who  contributed  a  thousand  dollars 
for  the  purpose,  Bishop  Frederick  D.  Huntington  or- 
ganized, September  20,  1864,  Grace  Episcopal  Church. 
Here  during  his  life  her  husband  planned  his  business 
enterprises.  Here  gracious  hospitality  welcomed  many 
guests. 

After  the  death  of  Mrs.  Jones  the  heirs  sold  the  house 
to  Hiram  Heaton,  October  7,  1879,  who  filled  its 
grounds  with  choice  trees,  shrubbery  and  flowers.  Here 
his  daughter,  Mary  Heaton  Vorse,  learned  to  write 
stories  which  have  proved  almost  as  popular  as  Eugene 
Field's  poems.  Here  too  David  Grayson  (Ray  Stan- 
nard  Baker)  lived  before  his  present  home  on  Sunset 
Avenue  was  finished. 

15 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

The  years  from  1840  to  1854  formed  a  period  of 
transition  from  household  industry,  in  which  the  pro- 
ducer was  his  own  landlord,  capitalist,  business  manager 
and  laborer,  to  the  era  of  capitalistic  production  and  the 
minute  division  of  labor.  Thomas  Jones,  first  in  Enfield 
and  later  in  Amherst,  was  a  pioneer  in  the  new  age  of 
New  England  community  manufacturing.  Many  diffi- 
culties beset  his  way.  Failures,  however,  became  means 
to  final  success.  Fire  again  and  again  destroyed  his 
mills.  But  he  persevered  resolutely  until  he  won  at  last 
a  competence. 

In  company  with  his  brother,  Elnathan  Jones,  in 
1842  he  rebuilt  the  cotton  mill  in  Factory  Hollow,  North 
Amherst.  About  this  time  he  owned  three  mills  there  in 
which  Kentucky  jeans  were  made.  These  mills  he  sold 
to  the  Amherst  Manufacturing  Company,  chartered  in 
184G  by  Thomas  Jones,  John  S.  Adams  and  J.  M. 
Whitcomb.  In  1845,  in  company  with  Bradley,  he  built 
a  woolen  mill  which  was  burned  in  1857.  In  1852  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Westville  Company,  which  built  a 
woolen  mill  on  Meadow  Street  in  North  Amherst.  His 
business  interests,  however,  were  not  confined  to  Am- 
herst. He  was  a  stockholder  in  many  manufacturing 
concerns  in  western  Massachusetts.  He  was  at  one  time 
president  of  the  Carew  Paper  Company  at  South 
Hadley  Falls. 

Understanding  the  value  of  railroad  transportation, 
in  company  with  John  Leland  and  Charles  .Adams  he 
raised  ^72,000  for  a  railroad  planned  to  run  around 
Mount  Holyoke  at  Hockanum  and  to  pass  through 
Amherst.  His  fellow  townsmen  showed  their  apprecia- 
tion of  his  public  spirit  by  electing  him  in  1845  to  the 

16 


f. 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

legislature.  He  served  as  a  trustee  of  Amherst  Acad- 
emy from  July  14,  1841,  to  his  death,  October  21,  1853. 

The  following  notice,  which  appeared  October  28, 
1853,  in  the  Hampshire  and  Franklin  Express,  shows 
the  esteem  in  which  he  was  held  by  his  fellow  citizens : 

"The  sudden  death  of  Thomas  Jones,  Esq.,  strikes 
this  community  with  more  than  ordinary  surprise  and 
sorrow.  Though  he  had  been  very  ill  several  months, 
for  some  weeks  past  he  had  been  rapidly  improving  and 
was  rejoicing  in  the  prospect  of  speedy  recovery. 

"We  shared  the  hospitality  of  his  house  and  table  only 
the  night  before  his  death  and  found  him  serenely  exult- 
ing in  the  luxury  of  returning  health  and  renewed  life. 
He  remarked  that  it  was  the  best  day  he  had  seen  for  a 
long  time.  At  midnight  a  sudden  alarm  of  fire  awaked 
him  out  of  sleep  and  before  three  o'clock  his  heart,  which 
was  doubtless  the  seat  of  his  disease,  had  ceased  to  beat. 
How  impressive  the  lesson  to  his  friends  and  neighbors 
to  be  also  ready. 

"The  loss  of  Mr.  Jones  will  be  felt — how  severely  it 
will  be  felt  by  the  afflicted  family,  of  which  he  was  not 
only  the  support  but  also  the  joy,  we  dare  not  under- 
take to  tell — but  it  will  be  felt  by  the  whole  community. 
His  enterprise  and  public  spirit,  his  large  hospitality 
and  liberal  charity,  his  singular  kindness  and  urbanity, 
will  be  remembered  with  affectionate  regret,  not  only 
by  the  citizens  of  Amherst,  but  by  strangers  who  occa- 
sionally visit  the  town,  long  after  that  pleasing  and 
benignant  face,  so  familiar  in  our  streets  and  so  welcome 
to  our  sight,  shall  have  moldered  to  dust." 

After  the  deatli  of  her  husband,  Mrs.  Mary  Hubbard 
Field  Jones  continued  as  the  head  of  her  family  and 

IT 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

maintained  her  position  as  gracious  hostess,  social  leader 
and  religions  worker  until  her  death,  January  9,  1879, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-four  years.  The  Amherst  Record 
in  the  notice  of  her  deatli  pays  this  tribute  to  her 
memory : 

"Mrs.  Jones  was  a  woman  of  very  high  character, 
highly  esteemed  by  those  with  whom  she  was  so  long 
associated,  and  a  wide  circle  of  friends  will  mourn  her 
loss." 

Funeral  services  were  conducted  by  Rev.  Frederick 
Burgess,  rector  of  Grace  Church,  and  she  was  buried  in 
West  Cemetery,  where  a  granite  monument  marks  the 
plot  containing  her  remains  resting  by  the  side  of  those 
of  her  husband. 

A  tablet  in  her  honor  has  been  placed  at  the  left  of  the 
pulpit  in  Grace  Church.  The  inscription  names  her  as 
one  of  the  founders  of  the  church. 

Amherst  during  the  years  from  1839  to  1854,  in  which 
Samuel  Minot  Jones  grew  from  infancy  to  young  man- 
hood, furnished  an  excellent  environment  for  the  de- 
velopment of  those  traits  and  characteristics  which  he 
inherited  from  his  distinguished  ancestry.  Nature's 
method  of  making  good  specimens  of  her  handiwork  in- 
volves two  stages  of  progress.  The  first  is  isolation  and 
protection:  the  second  is  the  bursting  of  barriers,  ex- 
pulsion, dispersion,  thrusting  her  child  out  into  the  wide 
world  to  shift  for  himself,  facing  defeat  and  failure,  or 
making  stepping  stones  of  difficulties  to  wrest  success 
from  untoward  circumstances.  At  first  the  thistle  is 
guarded  at  every  part  with  sharp  points:  then  it  blos- 
soms and  its  silken  petals  are  torn  from  their  support 
and  carried  to  distant  fields  to  start  a  new  life  in  a  barren 

18 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

pasture.  The  nestling,  so  tenderly  guarded  by  the 
eagle,  in  due  time  is  cast  out  of  the  nest  on  the  top  of  the 
crag  to  fly  or  fall.  The  Jewish  boy  is  shut  up  in  the 
shop  in  Nazareth  for  thirty  years  and  then  driven  into 
the  wilderness  from  whence  he  emerges  a  Son  of  Man, 
a  new  type  of  humanity. 

For  fifteen  years,  from  the  age  of  three  until  he  was 
eighteen  years  old,  Sam  Jones  was  an  Amherst  boy.  In 
his  home  were  two  older  half  brothers,  William  and 
Thomas  Jones,  an  older  half  sister,  Mary  Field  French, 
and  another  older  half  brother,  Theodore  F.  French, 
and  a  younger  sister,  Augusta  Thayer  Jones.  The  Am- 
herst house  was  commodious,  but  none  too  large  for  such 
a  family  of  children.  The  yard  was  a  big  one  overlook- 
ing the  valley  of  the  Connecticut.  Immediately  below 
stretched  the  Hadley  meadows,  out  of  which  Mount 
Warner  arose  to  hide  the  river,  except  in  flood  time 
when  its  waters  rushed  around  the  northern  slope.  To 
the  south  lay  Mount  Holyoke  and,  beyond,  Mount 
Nonotuek  and  Mount  Tom.  There  was  a  splendid  big 
attic  from  whose  western  window  could  be  seen  gorgeous 
sunsets  that  glorified  the  evening  skies  as  the  sun  ran  his 
yearly  course  from  Holyoke  to  Warner's  northern 
slope.  Past  his  house  sometimes  ran  the  stage  to  North- 
ampton, the  shiretown,  and  many  private  teams  bent  on 
pleasure  or  driven  on  business.  North  of  his  house  were 
the  famous  Cutler  orchards.  Down  the  hillside  ran  the 
brook  that  drained  the  marshy  land  between  his  house 
and  the  common.  In  winter  time  the  coasting  was 
splendid.  The  forests  of  white  oak,  of  pine,  of  chestnut 
and  of  hickory  afforded  great  opportunity  for  tramping 
and  for  filling  one's  bags  with  hickory  nuts  and  chestnuts. 

19 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

Squirrels,  rabbits,  foxes,  birds  of  all  kinds  abounded. 
There  were  trout  in  the  brooks  and  pickerel  in  the  ponds. 
But  Sam  was  brought  up  to  work.  Play  was  not  the 
chief  end  of  boyhood.  His  father  operated  the  mills  at 
North  Amherst  and  knew  how  to  make  his  own  boys  as 
well  as  mill  hands  employ  their  time  usefully.  The  care 
of  the  large  house  and  grounds  and  the  successful  man- 
agement of  such  a  household  demanded  that  there 
should  be  no  idlers  and  that  each  one  should  contribute 
according  to  his  ability  that  he  might  draw  from  the 
general  fund  according  to  his  need. 

Amherst  was  a  country  town  with  a  broad  outlook, 
but  nevertheless  shut  in  by  the  encircling  hills.  It  was 
a  long  way  to  Boston,  reached  only  by  relays  of  stage 
horses.  Springfield  was  a  thriving  village.  Northamp- 
ton was  little  larger  than  Amherst.  Horses  were  com- 
paratively few,  and  ox  teams  were  the  main  reliance  of 
the  farmer.  Wood  was  the  fuel  which  boys  were  ex- 
pected to  chop,  saw,  split  and  store  in  the  woodshed  and 
as  needed  heap  up  in  the  wood  boxes.  There  were  nu- 
merous great  fireplaces  in  the  Jones  mansion  and  it  was 
no  slight  task  to  keep  the  fires  blazing  during  the  long 
winters. 

It  was  in  this  same  homestead,  under  the  care  of 
Samuel  Jones'  mother  and  his  sister,  Mary  French, 
that  Eugene  and  Roswell  Field  were  trained  in  their 
boyhood.  Eugene's  testimony  as  to  the  value  of  this 
environment  enables  one  to  understand  how  it  must  have 
influenced  the  older  boy  Samuel  in  his  day.  When 
asked  who  had  exerted  the  most  influence  in  shaping  his 
life  and  character,  Eugene  Field  at  first  said  that  it  was 
his  grandmother.      But  later  he  declared  that  he  was 

20 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

sorry  that  he  had  said  that,  for  after  mature  thought  he 
was  certain  that  the  woman  was  Mary  Field  French. 
To  her  he  dedicated  his  "Little  Book  of  Western  Verse" 
in  a  poem  that  shows  how  much  she  did  for  him.  These 
are  the  verses : 

To  Mary  Field  French 

A  dying  mother  gave  to  you 
Her  child  a  many  years  ago ; 
How  in  your  gracious  love  he  grew, 
You  know,  dear,  patient  heart,  you  know. 

The  mother's  child  you  fostered  then 
Salutes  you  now  and  bids  you  take 
These  little  children  of  his  pen 
And  love  them  for  the  author's  sake. 

To  you  I  dedicate  this  book, 
And,  as  you  read  it  line  by  line, 
Upon  its  faults  as  kindly  look 
As  you  have  always  looked  on  mine. 

Tardy  the  offering  is  and  weak ; — 
Yet  were  I  happy  if  I  knew 
These  children  had  the  power  to  speak 
My  love  and  gratitude  to  you. 

The  influence  of  this  New  England  homestead  never 
left  him.  Traces  of  it  appear  again  and  again  in  his 
writings.     Here  is  one  of  his  pictures : 

We  see  it  all — the  pictur'  that  our  mem'ries  hold  so  dear — 
The  homestead  in  New  England  far  away, 
An'  the  vision  is  so  nat'rul-like,  we  almost  seem  to  hear 
The  voices  that  were  hushed  but  yesterday. 


21 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

Why  the  robins  in  the  maples  and  the  blackbirds  round  the  pond, 

The  crickets  and  the  locusts  in  the  leaves, 

The  brook  that  chased  the  trout  adown  the  hillside  just  beyond, 

An'  the  swallers  in  their  nests  beneath  the  eaves — 

They  all  come  trooping  back  with  you.  dear  Uncle  Josh,  today, 

An'  they  seem  to  sing  with  all  the  joyous  zest 

Of  the  days  when  we  were  Yankee  boys  an'  Yankee  girls  at  play, 

With  nary  thought  of  livin'  way  out  West. 

The  brook  that  ran  down  the  hillside  northwest  of  the 
Amherst  homestead  made  a  lasting  impression  upon 
Eugene  so  that  in  after  years  he  wrote: 

To  a  Little  Brook 

You're  not  so  big  as  you  were  then, 

0  little  brook  !— 
I  mean  those  hazy  summers  when 
We  boys  roamed,  full  of  awe  beside 
Your  noisy,  foaming  tide, 
And  wondered  if  it  could  be  true 
That  there  were  bigger  brooks  than  you, 

O  mighty  brook.  0  peerless  brook! 


But  onci — 0  most  unhappy  day 

For  you,  my  brook! — 
Came  Cousin  Sam  along  that  way: 
And.  having  lived  a  spell  out  West. 
Where  creeks  aren't  counted  much  at  best, 
He  neither  waded,  swam,  nor  leapt. 
Hut  with   superb  indifference,  stept 

Across  that  brook — our  mighty  brook. 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

In  his  verses  entitled  "My  Playmates"  his  memory 
reverts  to  his  Amherst  boyhood  and  the  Jones  mansion 
on  the  hill : 

The  wind  comes  whispering  to  me  of  the  country  green  and  cool, 
Of  redwing  blackbirds  chattering  beside  a  reedy  pool ; 
It  brings  me  soothing  fancies  of  the  homestead  on  the  hill, 
And  I  hear  the  thrush's  evening  song  and  the  robin's  morning 

trill; 
So  I  fall  to  thinking  tenderly  of  those  I  used  to  know 
Where  the  sassafras  and  snakeroot  and   checkerberries  grow. 


O  cottage  'neath  the  maples,  have  you  seen  those  girls  and  boys 
That  but  a  little  while  ago  made,  oh!  such  pleasant  noise? 

0  trees  and  hills  and  brooks,  and  lanes,  and  meadows,  do  you 

know 
Where  I  shall  find  my  little  friends  of  forty  years  ago? 
You  see  I'm  old  and  weary  and  I've  traveled  long  and  far; 

1  am  looking  for  my  playmates — I  wonder  where  they  are! 

One  of  these  playmates  was  Mary  Smith  and  in  his 
lines  to  her  he  begins: 

Away  down  East  where  I  was  reared  amongst  my  Yankee  kith 
There  used  to  live  a  pretty  girl  whose  name  was  Mary  Smith. 

Continuing  he  exclaims: 

How  often  now  those  sights,  those  pleasant  sights  recur  again: 
The  little  township  that  was  all  the  world  I  knew  of  then — 
The  meeting-house  upon  the  hill,  the  tavern  just  beyond, 
Old  Deacon  Packard's  general  store,  the  sawmill  by  the  pond, 
The  village  elms  I  vainly  sought  to  conquer  in  my  quest 
Of  that  surpassing  trophy,  the  golden  oriole's  nest. 

28 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

Roswell  Martin  Field,  who  shared  with  his  brother 
Eugene  the  Amherst  life,  attributes  to  it  much  of  the 
influence  which  shaped  his  character  and  developed  his 
genius.     In  his  sketch  of  Eugene's  life,  Roswell  says: 

"The  formative  period  of  my  brother's  youth  was 
passed  in  New  England,  and  to  the  influences  which  still 
prevail  in  and  around  her  peaceful  hills  and  gentle 
streams,  the  influences  of  a  sturdy  stock  which  has  sent 
so  many  good  and  brave  men  to  the  West  for  the  up- 
building of  the  country  and  the  upholding  of  what  is 
best  in  Puritan  tradition,  he  gladly  acknowledged  he 
owed  much  that  was  strong  and  enduring.  While  he 
gloried  in  the  West  and  remained  loyal  to  the  section 
which  gave  him  birth  and  in  which  he  chose  to  cast  his 
lot,  he  was  not  the  less  proud  of  his  Xew  England  blood 
and  not  the  less  conscious  of  the  benefits  of  a  Xew  Eng- 
land training.  His  boyhood  was  similar  to  that  of  other 
boys  brought  up  with  the  best  surroundings  in  a  Massa- 
chusetts village,  where  the  college  atmosphere  prevailed. 
He  had  his  boyish  pleasures  and  his  trials,  his  share  of 
that  queer  mixture  of  nineteenth-century  worldliness 
and  almost  austere  Puritanism  which  is  yet  characteristic 
of  many  Xew  England  families." 

Roswell  thus  describes  how  the  literary  atmosphere  of 
Amherst  led  Eugene  when  a  child  to  write  his  first 
poem : 

''The  family  dog  at  Amherst,  which  was  immortalized 
many  years  later  with  'The  Bench-Legged  Fyce,'  and 
which  was  known  in  his  day  to  hundreds  of  students  at 
the  college  on  account  of  his  surpassing  lack  of  beauty, 
rejoiced  originally  in  the  honest  name  of  Fido,  but  my 
brother  rejected   this   name   as   commonplace   and   un- 

24 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

worthy  and  straightway  named  him  'Dooley'  on  the  pre- 
sumption that  there  was  something  Hibernian  in  his 
face.  It  was  to  Dooley  that  he  wrote  his  first  poem,  a 
parody  on  'O  Had  I  Wings  Like  a  Dove,'  a  song  then 
in  good  vogue.  Near  the  head  of  the  village  street  was 
the  home  of  the  Emersons,  a  large  frame  house,  now 
standing  for  more  than  a  century,  and  in  the  great  yard 
in  front  the  magnificent  elms  which  are  the  glory  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley.  Many  times  the  boys,  returning 
from  school,  would  linger  to  cool  off  in  the  shade  of  these 
glorious  trees,  and  it  was  on  one  of  these  occasions  that 
my  brother  put  into  the  mouth  of  Dooley  his  maiden 
effort  in  verse: 

"  'O  had  I  wings  like  a  dove  I  would  fly 
Away  from  this  world  of  fleas ; 
I'd  fly  all  around  Miss  Emerson's  yard 
And  light  on  Miss  Emerson's  trees.'  " 

This  house  still  stands,  used  as  headquarters  of  the 
Amherst  Historical  Society  and  shaded  by  two  magnifi- 
cent sycamore  trees,  but  the  great  elms  have  both  been 
broken  down  by  time  and  stress  of  weather. 

How  Amherst  scenery  affected  Eugene,  especially 
that  seen  from  the  Jones  mansion,  is  thus  described : 

"Throughout  his  writings  may  be  found  the  most 
earnest  appreciation  of  the  joyousness  and  loveliness  of 
a  beautiful  landscape,  but  as  he  would  share  it  intellec- 
tually with  his  readers  so  it  was  a  necessity  that  he  could 
not  seek  it  alone  as  an  actuality.  In  his  boyhood,  in  the 
full  glory  of  a  perfect  day  he  loved  to  ramble  through 
the  woods  and  meadows,  and  delighted  in  the  az.ure  tints 
of  tiie  far-awav  Berkshire  hills. 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

"Acting  was  his  strongest  boyish  passion.  Even  as  a 
child  he  was  a  wonderful  mimic  and  thereby  the  delight 
of  his  playmates  and  the  terror  of  his  teachers.  He  or- 
ganized a  stock  company  among  the  small  boys  of  the 
village  and  gave  performances  in  the  barn  of  one  of  the 
less  scrupulous  neighbors." 

That  neighbor  was  Lucius  Boltwood  and  the  barn 
stood  near  the  ground  where  now  is  located  Pratt 
Memorial  Dormitory  at  Amherst  College.  But  the 
literary  atmosphere  of  New  England  did  not  stimulate 
alone  the  dramatic  and  poetic  genius  of  Eugene.  It 
even  compelled  him  before  ten  years  of  age  to  write  a 
sermon  showing  the  results  of  those  arduous  Sabbath 
days  in  the  old  meeting  house  on  the  hill.  But  the  most 
powerful  and  lasting  of  all  the  many  influences  which 
shaped  the  life  of  Eugene  Field  during  his  boyhood  in 
Amherst  was  revealed  by  Rev.  Frank  X.  Bristol  in  these 
words  quoted  in  Slason  Thompson's  biography  of  the 
poet,  from  the  address  given  at  the  funeral : 

"I  have  said  of  my  dear  friend  that  he  had  a  creed. 
His  creed  was  love.  He  had  a  religion.  His  religion 
was  kindness.  He  belonged  to  the  church — the  church 
of  the  common  brotherhood  of  man.  With  all  the 
changes  that  came  to  his  definitions  and  formulas  he 
never  lost  from  his  heart  of  hearts  the  reverence  for 
sacred  things  learned  in  childhood  and  inherited  from  a 
sturdy  Puritan  ancestry.  From  that  dee])  store  of  love 
and  faith  and  reverence  sprang  the  streams  of  his  happv 
songs  and  ever  was  he  putting  into  his  tender  verses 
those  ideas  of  the  living  God.  the  blessed  Christ,  the 
ministering  angels  of  immortal  love,  the  happiness  of 
heaven,  which  were  instilled  into  his  heart  when  a  boy." 

26 


BIRTH  AXD  EARLY  EDUCATION 

The  Jones  mills  at  North  Amherst  produced  material 
wealth,  but  the  Jones  home  on  Amity  Street,  where  pre- 
sided Mary  Hubbard  Field  Jones  and  her  daughter, 
Mary  Field  French,  opened  its  doors  to  the  orphan  boy 
from  the  wild  West  and  so  trained  his  passions  wild 
and  strong  and  so  shaped  his  eccentric  genius  that  he 
became  the  sweet  singer  of  the  nineteenth  century  whose 
songs  still  make  music  in  the  heart  of  humanity. 

Dr.  James  Tufts,  who  in  his  famous  academy  at  Mon- 
son  prepared  Eugene  Field  for  college,  bears  this  testi- 
mony which  explains  much: 

"Mary  Field  French,  a  daughter  of  Mrs.  Jones  by 
her  first  husband,  was  a  lady  of  strong  mind,  and  much 
culture,  with  a  sound  judgment  and  decision  of  char- 
acter and  very  gracious  manners.  She  was  always 
sociable  and  agreeable  and  so  admirably  adapted  to  the 
charge  of  the  two  brothers.  Here  in  this  charming  home, 
under  the  best  Xew  England  influences  and  religious 
instruction,  with  nothing  harsh  or  repulsive,  the  boys 
could  not  have  found  a  more  congenial  home.  Indeed 
few  mothers  are  able  or  even  capable  of  doing  so  much 
for  their  own  children  as  Miss  French  did  for  these  two 
brothers,  watching  over  them  incessantly,  yet  not  spoil- 
ing them  by  weak  indulgence  or  repelling  them  by  harsh 
discipline." 

Such  was  the  home  life  in  which  the  boy  Samuel  Minot 
Jones  shared  and  which  was  a  potent  factor  in  shaping 
his  character.  If  Mrs.  Jones  did  so  much  for  the  Field 
boys  what  must  she  have  done  for  her  own  son?  And  if 
Mary  Field  French  accomplished  so  much  for  her 
cousins,  surely  she  must  have  been  an  inspiration  to  her 

97 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

brother  Samuel,  who  was  eleven  years  younger  than 
herself. 

But  the  Jones  home  was  only  one  of  many  other 
similar  homes  in  Amherst.  At  the  present  time  the 
influence  of  many  parents  over  their  own  children  is 
greatly  hindered  by  the  conflicting  customs  and  fashions 
of  neighboring  families.  But  seventy  years  ago  the 
best  families  in  Amherst  were  united  in  their  common 
ideas  and  practices  concerning  the  education  and  train- 
ing of  the  young. 

Professor  John  W.  Burgess,  who  came  to  Amherst 
from  eastern  Tennessee  during  the  Civil  War,  found 
this  Massachusetts  village  with  its  peace,  beauty  and 
charming  homes  to  be  for  him  a  Garden  of  Eden  in  con- 
trast with  his  own  Southern  home,  which  had  been 
harried  first  by  the  Confederate  and  then  by  the  Union 
armies.  He  became  a  member  of  the  Jones  family  and 
finally  the  husband  of  Augusta  Jones,  Samuel's  own 
sister.  "I  think,"  he  states  in  a  recent  letter,  "it  would 
be  too  much  to  say  that  the  Jones  home  on  Amity  Street 
was  the  center  of  the  social  life  of  Amherst.  It  was 
certainly  a  center,  but  Amherst  social  life  was  on  a  very 
high  plane  between  1804  and  1879,  the  period  when  I 
knew  it.  In  fact,  it  was  almost  brilliant.  The  homes 
of  the  Stearns,  the  Seelyes,  the  Tuckermans,  the  Dick- 
insons, the  Tylers,  the  Boltwoods  and  Clarks  were 
equally  delightful  social  centers." 

The  home  of  the  Tylers  is  one  especially  worthy  of 
mention,  for  in  it  were  reared  four  bovs,  Mason.  Ilenrv, 
William  and  John,  under  conditions  very  much  like 
those  which  prevailed  in  the  Jones  family.  They  lived 
in  a  home  in  Oak  Grove  adjoining  the  Sweetser  house. 

28 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

which  was  the  model  for  the  Jones  mansion.  All  these 
became  men  of  distinction,  one  a  soldier  and  a  lawyer, 
two  professors  and  the  other  a  manufacturer.  The 
Tyler  house  was  placed  upon  the  summit  of  the  hill,  the 
view  from  which,  similar  to  that  from  the  Jones  house, 
is  thus  described  by  Professor  Henry  M.  Tyler  of  Smith 
College : 

"There  were  naturally  many  beautiful  glimpses  of 
scenery  to  be  obtained  from  different  points  on  the 
piazza.  The  view  toward  the  northwest  was  peculiarly 
fine.  You  could  look  out  over  the  rich  fields  of  the 
Connecticut  Valley,  with  trees  scattered  here  and  there 
covered  with  freshest  green  in  springtime,  growing  more 
sober  as  summer  advanced,  and  then  in  autumn  covering 
themselves  with  an  indescribable  variety  of  brilliant 
colors,  as  if  Nature  were  bent  upon  proving  that  with 
all  of  the  uniformity  of  her  laws  she  could  indulge  in 
infinite  changes  of  ornamentation.  And  over  this  fore- 
ground which  seemed  never  twice  to  be  the  same  the  eye 
passed  to  the  sloping  hills  on  the  other  side  of  the  river, 
dotted  with  white  houses  and  flicked  with  smooth  fields 
and  rough  woodlands,  and  rested  beyond  upon  the 
heights  which  look  down  into  the  valley  of  the  Deerfield. 
Strangers  were  taken  to  look  out  over  that  scene  as  one 
of  the  best  treats  of  hospitality  which  could  be  offered 
them,  and  friends  of  the  house  took  a  last  view  of  it  ere 
they  went  away  that  they  might  carry  its  impression  as 
a  part  of  the  remembrance  of  the  house.  It  was  a  land- 
scape full  of  gentleness  in  the  summer  time.  Rut  in  the 
winter  from  the  wild  snows  of  those  same  heights  the 
wind  came  howling  across  the  open  fields  never  finding 

29 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

an  obstruction  to  check  its  onward  rush  until  it  struck 
the  house  upon  the  hill." 

It  was  the  fashion  for  Amherst  boys  to  work.  Con- 
tinuing his  story  of  his  youthful  training,  Professor 
Tyler  says:  "Both  indoors  and  out  the  boys  were  taught 
to  work.  Regular  duties  were  assigned  to  everyone  and 
they  were  trained  to  do  things  in  the  proper  way  and 
at  the  proper  time.  Most  of  the  time  we  had  a  horse,  if 
not  a  horse  and  cow,  and  had  to  learn  to  take  care  of 
them.  There  was  always  something  to  be  done  on  the 
place.  When  the  hay  was  to  be  cut,  a  man  was  hired 
for  the  mowing  and  heavy  work,  but  we  all  had  our  parts 
to  perform,  and  so  generally  we  were  expected  to  do 

what  we  could We  learned  to  do  our  work 

together We  had  our  regular  duties  to  perform, 

but  a  fair  allowance  of  time  was  always  left  to  us  for 
play.    We  understood  that  the  work  had  to  be  done." 

The  Tyler  home  was  a  place  where  many  guests  were 
entertained  whose  influence  for  good  was  a  large  factor 
in  the  education  of  the  boys,  giving  them  an  outlook  on 
life.  The  story  continues:  "There  was  in  fact  a  continu- 
ous procession  of  pleasant  people  going  in  and  out  from 
the  house  and  helping  to  dispel  the  atmosphere  of 
drudgery  and  hardship  which  might  be  in  danger  of 
gathering  there.     The  house  might  well  be  said.  I  think, 

to  lie  given  to  hospitality To  ministers   and 

teachers  the  house  was  always  open,  so  that  their  visits 
were  more  frequent  than  those  of  relatives.  But  above 
all  others,  missionaries  were  counted  welcome.  It  would 
have  been  reckoned  a  misfortune  not  to  have  them  come. 
....  The  social  life  of  those  days  had  some  decided 
advantages.      There   was   less   of   conventionality   than 

.30 


BIRTH  AND  PEARLY  EDUCATION 

now,  but  more  time  and  better  opportunity  for  making 

lasting  friendships The  social  life  of  Amherst 

half  a  century  ago  had  some  features  of  rare  attractive- 
ness  It  was  at  the  annual  commencement  season 

that  Amherst  reached  the  climax  of  its  social  advan- 
tages  The  strangers  and  friends  who  were  thus 

brought  to  the  house  left  in  it  an  influence  of  culture 
and  grace,  an  atmosphere  of  thought  worth  more  than 
if  it  had  been  an  abode  of  wealth." 

In  the  making  of  men  the  influence  of  such  Amherst 
homes  was  a  prime  factor.  How  the  thought  of  such  a 
home  influenced  Mason  W.  Tyler  and  kept  him  sane 
and  sound  when  a  soldier  may  be  learned  from  these 
words  from  his  letter  to  his  parents  written  November 
15,  1863,  from  Brandy  Station,  Virginia:  "I  have  man- 
aged to  get  time  enough  to  write  my  Sunday  letter.  I 
have  managed  to  read  the  Independent  and  Congrega- 
tionalist  at  odd  spells  while  waiting  for  things  to 
progress  and  standing  over  the  fire  drying  myself.  Last 
night  at  sundown,  the  real  old  Saturday  night  feeling 
came  over  me  and  I  lay  in  my  tent  a  good  share  of  the 
evening  thinking  in  the  dark  while  outside  it  was  rain- 
ing hard.  I  thought  of  you  gathered  around  your  cheer- 
ful fireside,  and  with  your  work  all  laid  aside  for  the 
pleasant  Sunday,  books  and  papers  in  each  and  all  of 
your  hands.  I  could  see  you  perfectly.  I  thought  you 
looked  very  comfortable.  I  only  wished  I  could  step 
in  on  you  for  a  moment." 

With  such  thoughts  of  home  the  boy,  even  in  the  midst 
of  the  wild  temptations  of  civil  war,  could  not  go  wrong. 
Another  letter  home  tells  of  his  reading  "Old  Curiosity 
Shop"  and  "The  Last  Days  of  Pompeii."     "The  fact 

31 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

is,"  he  writes,  "I  sit  in  my  tent  and  read  the  most  of 
the  day  except  when  I  am  occupied  with  my  camp 
duties."  "While  out  on  picket  I  read  Bulwer  Lytton's 
'Rienzi.' '  At  Winchester  he  read  Haynes'  and  Web- 
ster's great  speeches  and  wrote  home:  "I  have  had  a  very 
pleasant  Sabbath  today.  In  fact  the  privilege  that  we 
have  here  of  spending  a  Christian  Sabbath  in  some- 
thing like  a  Christian  neighborhood  is  more  like  home 
than  any  military  experience  we  have  previously  had. 
The  Chaplain  has  a  regimental  service  in  the  afternoon 
and  in  the  morning  I  usually  attend  church  in  the  city 
and  the  rest  of  the  day  the  quiet  of  my  own  room  affords 
me  a  place  for  reading,  meditation  and  prayer.  The 
quiet  is  as  marked  here  Sunday  as  in  our  own  Xew  Eng- 
land village." 

Entering  the  army  as  Second  Lieutenant,  Mason  W. 
Tyler  was  discharged  with  the  rank  of  Brevet  Colonel 
after  a  brilliant  service.  His  army  life  instead  of  un- 
dermining his  physical  strength  and  moral  character 
developed  both,  so  that  when  he  entered  Xew  York  city 
life  he  was  master  of  himself  and  circumstances  and  won 
both  fame  and  fortune  as  a  leading  lawyer  and  public- 
spirited  citizen.  How  much  his  success  was  due  to  his 
Amherst  home  may  be  inferred  from  these  words  quoted 
from  his  recollections: 

"My  three  brothers  and  I  worked  the  garden  in 
summer,  which  composed  nearly  an  acre  of  ground, 
raised  vegetables  and  fruit,  harvested  the  hay,  took  care 
of  a  horse,  a  cow  and  the  chickens,  sawed  the  wood  and 
piled  it.  and  at  all  seasons  carried  it  by  armfuls  into  the 
house  until  the  wood-boxes  were  filled,  built  and  fed  the 
tires,  and  if  occasion  required  helped  about  the  cooking, 

32 


BIRTH  AXD  EARLY  EDUCATION 

the  bed  making,  the  dish  washing,  and  the  other  domestic 
employments.  Many  hands  made  light  work,  and  we 
were  adepts  in  the  art  of  despatching  work.  Our  hours 
for  play  were  short  but  they  were  appreciated  and  made 
the  most  of. 

"Of  course  the  college  attracted  a  great  many  dis- 
tinguished strangers  and  visitors  from  all  parts  of  the 
world  and  as  accommodations  at  the  hotels  were  very 
uncomfortable,  such  persons  were  generally  entertained 
by  some  member  of  the  college  faculty,  who  in  such 
cases  exercised  a  very  simple  but  charming  hospitality. 
I  have  seen  under  my  father's  roof  and  at  his  table 
governors  of  states,  United  States  senators  and  mem- 
bers of  the  House  of  Representatives,  justices  of  the 
courts,  foreign  ministers,  distinguished  preachers,  ora- 
tors and  teachers  from  my  own  country  and  from 
foreign  lands,  and  professors  connected  with  foreign 
universities  altogether  too  numerous  to  mention." 

Mason  Tyler  was  less  than  four  years  younger  than 
Samuel  Minot  Jones  so  that  his  description  of  a  typical 
Amherst  home  gives  one  a  good  idea  of  what  the  Jones 
home  and  the  environing  circumstances  must  have 
been.  Mason  Tyler  thus  describes  the  Amherst  of  his 
boyhood:  "I  was  born  June  17,  1840,  at  Amherst, 
Massachusetts.  It  would  be  hard  to  find  a  more  quiet 
and  peaceful  hamlet  of  twenty-five  hundred  inhabitants 
than  Amherst  was  in  my  boyhood  days.  There  was  not 
a  public  bar  nor  a  drinking  saloon  in  town.  There  was 
not  a  man  in  town  worth  one  hundred  thousand  dollars. 
They  mostly  owned  the  houses  they  lived  in.  Xo  family 
had  more  than  one  servant;  most  of  them  not  any 
servants.     One  of  the  principal  industries  of  the  place 

33 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

was  furnishing  board  to  students  of  the  college.  There 
were  few  wealthy  students.  Many  of  the  students  were 
working  their  way  through  college  to  become  ministers 
or  missionaries.  The  price  of  board  ranged  from 
seventy-five  cents  to  two  dollars  and  a  quarter  a  week." 

Amherst  schools  were  a  factor  of  prime  value  in  the 
environment  added  to  home  training  which  developed 
and  molded  the  character  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones. 
When  Xoah  Webster  sold  his  house  in  Xew  Haven, 
Connecticut,  and  came  to  Amherst  to  complete  his  dic- 
tionary, the  work  of  his  life,  he  found  the  schools  little 
better  than  those  of  the  average  Xew  England  country 
town.  He  found  the  Amherst  public  school  to  be  as  his 
daughter  thus  describes  it:  "I  remember  well  the  forlorn, 
unpainted,  unshaded  building  on  one  side  of  the  village 
green.  There  was  an  entry  way  where  hats  and  cloaks 
were  kept  and  then  one  large  room  with  an  open  fire- 
place at  each  end,  and  in  winter  full  of  green  logs  with 
the  sap  oozing  out  of  them.  Two  or  three  rows  of  hard 
benches  with  desks  before  them  were  on  each  side  and  a 
tall  desk  in  the  center  of  the  room  was  for  the  teacher. 
There  were  no  maps  or  pictures  of  any  kind — no  maps 
or  equipments  for  the  assistance  of  the  teacher,  but  I 
remember  that  the  children  were  happy  and  anxious  to 
learn. 

But  Webster,  being  a  graduate  of  Yale  College  and 
a  scholar  and  writer  of  national  and  international  fame, 
had.  his  granddaughter  declares,  "a  passion  for  educa- 
tion, and  the  fire  of  his  enthusiasm  helped  to  kindle  the 
desires  of  the  townspeople.  He  talked  in  private,  he 
harangued  in  public,  he  showed  the  advantage  and  he 
pressed  the  necessity  of  it.     Moreover,  he  gave  his  own 

34 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

daughters  a  far  longer  and  higher  course  of  study  than 
was  then  customary.  Indeed,  he  felt  the  need  of  this 
more  advanced  school  in  educating  his  younger  chil- 
dren." 

As  a  result  of  this  agitation  started  by  Webster,  which 
was  continued  for  a  generation,  we  find  in  Amherst 
greatly  improved  public  schools.  From  an  examination 
of  school  reports  we  learn  that  the  children  were  taught 
both  to  think  and  to  behave  themselves.  R.  L.  Parsons, 
who  won  the  approbation  of  the  school  board,  taught  the 
winter  school.  "From  the  outset,"  the  committee  re- 
ported, "there  was  a  constant  improvement  in  the  order 
of  the  school  and  in  the  behavior  of  the  children.  Even 
when  at  play  in  the  school  yard,  they  studiously  avoided 
disturbing  the  neighbors,  and  Mr.  Parsons  was  attentive 
to  the  cultivation  of  good  manners.  At  the  close  of  each 
day's  session  the  scholars  passed  out  of  the  school  room 
with  a  courtesy  or  bow  to  their  teacher  which  was  always 
returned.  Absence  of  rudeness  and  the  presence  of 
easy,  graceful  manners  characterized  the  school.  The 
studies  included  arithmetic,  history,  physiology,  analysis 
and  geography.  Much  attention  also  was  given  to  writ- 
ing and  spelling." 

One  cause  of  the  excellence  of  the  Amherst  schools  is 
thus  revealed  by  the  school  report  of  1853:  "Your  com- 
mittee attribute  the  uniform  success  of  the  public  schools 
under  Providence  to  the  superior  teachers  employed. 
These  were  selected  with  particular  reference  to  their 
past  experience,  tact  in  government  and  literary  attain- 
ments. Other  qualifications  being  equal,  one  who  could 
sing  was  preferred.  Singing  has  been  an  occasional 
exercise  in  every  school.     Females  were  selected  gen- 

35 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

erally  on  account  of  their  superior  ability  to  govern  and 
educate  children,  and  because  their  wages  are  about  fifty 
per  cent  less  than  those  of  male  teachers.  The  continu- 
ance of  an  excellent  teacher  in  the  same  school  for  suc- 
cessive terms  was  always  secured  when  possible."  This 
committee  was  guided  in  its  action  by  the  advice  of 
Horace  Mann  and  Dr.  Sears,  secretary  of  the  state 
board  of  education. 

Another  cause  of  the  excellence  of  the  Amherst  public 
schools  was  the  success  of  Amherst  Academy,  which  was 
founded  largely  through  the  influence  of  Noah  Webster. 

Mrs.  Jones,  a  daughter  of  Noah  Webster,  who  re- 
ceived her  education  chiefly  within  its  walls,  thus  de- 
scribes it:  "The  school  became  a  favorite  with  the  public, 
its  teachers  were  Christian  gentlemen,  and  entirely  com- 
petent for  the  places  they  filled,  and  the  lady  teachers 
were  refined,  gentle  and  cultivated,  and  exerted  a  beau- 
tiful influence  on  their  pupils."  Mrs.  Ford  says:  "The 
school  opened  with  a  large  number  of  students  and 
attracted  pupils  from  every  part  of  New  England.  It 
had  at  one  time  as  many  as  ninety  pupils  in  the  ladies' 
department  and  quite  as  many  more  in  the  gentlemen's." 
"It  was,"  says  Professor  W.  S.  Tyler,  "the  Williston 
Seminary  and  the  Mount  Holyoke  of  that  day  com- 
bined." 

Among  the  pupils  in  Amherst  Academy  were  Mary 
Eyon,  the  girl  from  Buckland  who  afterwards  founded 
Mount  Holyoke  Seminary;  Abby  Maria  Wood,  niece 
of  Euke  Sweetser,  who  lived  with  him  in  Oak  Grove 
and  who  afterwards  became  the  wife  of  Dr.  Daniel 
Bliss,  the  founder  of  the  Syrian  Protestant  College  in 
Beirut,   Syria,  giving  her  useful  life  to  the  service  of 

36 


rM  /V.  y/ 


A  Mill  K>T     Al    \!)l  \r 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

Syrian  boys  and  girls;  Helen  Fiske,  afterwards  known 
as  Helen  Hunt  Jackson,  whose  writings  signed  "H.  H." 
were  famous;  and  Emily  Dickinson,  the  unique  genius 
whose  posthumous  poems  and  letters,  edited  by  Mabel 
Loomis  Todd,  twenty-five  years  ago  charmed  many 
readers  and  made  a  sensation  in  the  literary  world. 

Emily  Dickinson,  when  a  girl  of  fourteen,  wrote  a 
letter  in  which  she  thus  describes  the  school:  "Viny  and 
I  both  go  to  school  this  term.  We  have  a  very  fine 
school.  There  are  sixty-three  scholars.  I  have  four 
studies.  They  are  Mental  Philosophy,  Geology,  Latin 
and  Botany.     How  large  they  sound,  don't  they?     I 

don't  believe  you  have  such  big  studies I  have 

written  one  composition  this  term,  and  I  need  not  assure 
you  it  was  exceedingly  edifying  to  myself  as  well  as 
everybody  else We  are  obliged  to  write  com- 
positions once  in  a  fortnight,  and  select  a  piece  to  read 
from  some  interesting  book  the  week  we  don't  write 
compositions.  We  really  have  some  charming  young 
women  in  school  this  term I  never  enjoyed  my- 
self more  than  I  have  this  summer ;  for  we  have  had  such 
a  delightful  school  and  such  pleasant  teachers.     Our 

examination  is  to  come  off  next  week  on  Monday 

I  am  already  gasping  in  view  of  our  examination  and 
although  I  am  determined  not  to  dread  it  I  know  it  is 
so  foolish,  yet  in  spite  of  my  heroic  resolution  I  cannot 
avoid  a  few  misgivings  when  I  think  of  those  tall,  stern 
trustees,  and  when  I  know  that  I  shall  lose  my  character 
if  I  don't  recite  as  precisely  as  the  laws  of  the  Medes  and 
Persians.    But  what  matter  will  that  be  a  hundred  years 

hence? Have  you  heard  anything  from  Miss  Adams, 

our  dear  teacher?    How  much  I  would  give  to  see  her." 

37 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

March  15,  1847,  she  again  writes  of  her  school:  "I  go 
this  term  and  am  studying  Algebra,  Euclid,  Ecclesiasti- 
cal History,  and  reviewing  Arithmetic  again  to  be  upon 
the  safe  side  of  things  next  autumn.  We  have  a  de- 
lightful school  this  term  under  the  instruction  of  our 
former  principals,  and  Miss  R.  Woodbridge,  daughter 
of  Reverend  Dr.  W.  of  Hadley,  for  preceptress.  We 
all  love  her  very  much.  Perhaps  a  slight  description  of 
her  might  be  interesting  to  my  dear  A.  She  is  tall  and 
rather  slender,  but  finely  proportioned,  has  a  most  witch- 
ing pair  of  blue  eyes,  rich  brown  hair,  delicate  com- 
plexion, cheeks  that  vie  with  the  opening  rose-bud,  teeth 
like  pearls,  dimples  which  come  and  go  like  the  ripples 
in  yonder  little  merry  brook,  and  then  she  is  so  affec- 
tionate and  lovely.  Forgive  my  glowing  description, 
for  you  know  I  am  always  in  love  with  my  teachers." 

Another  picture  of  life  in  the  old  Amherst  Academy 
is  given  by  Mrs.  Gordon  L.  Ford  (Emily  Ellsworth 
Fowler  Ford),  daughter  of  Professor  Fowler  of  Am- 
herst College.     She  wrote  as  follows: 

"There  was  a  fine  circle  of  young  people  in  Amherst, 
and  we  influenced  each  other  strongly.  We  were  in  the 
adoring  mood  and  I  am  glad  to  say  that  many  of  these 
idols  of  our  girlhood  have  proved  themselves  golden. 
The  eight  girls  who  composed  this  group  had  talent 
enough  for  twice  their  number,  and  in  their  respective 
spheres  of  mothers,  authors,  or  women,  have  been  note- 
worthy and  admirable. 

"This  group  started  a  little  paper  in  the  Academy 
which  was  kept  up  for  two  years.  Emily  Dickinson 
was  one  of  the  wits  of  the  school  and  a  humorist  of  the 
'comic  column.'     Fanny  Montague  often  made  the  head 

38 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

title  of  the  paper — Forest  Leaves — in  leaves  copied 
from  nature  and  fantasies  of  her  own  pen  work.  She  is 
now  a  wise  member  of  art  circles  in  Baltimore,  a  man- 
ager of  the  Museum  of  Art,  and  the  appointed  and  in- 
telligent critic  of  the  Japanese  Exhibit  in  Chicago. 
Helen  Fiske  (the  'H.  H.'  of  later  days)  did  no  special 
work  on  the  paper  for  various  reasons.  This  paper  was 
all  in  script,  and  was  passed  around  the  school,  where 
the  contributions  were  easily  recognized  from  the  hand- 
writing which  in  Emily's  case  was  very  beautiful — small, 
clear,  and  finished.  We  had  a  Shakespeare  Club — a 
rare  thing  in  those  days.  There  were  many  little  dances, 
with  cake  and  lemonade  at  the  end,  and  one  year  there 
was  a  valentine  party,  where  the  lines  of  various  authors 
were  arranged  to  make  apparent  sense,  but  absolute 
nonsense,  the  play  being  to  guess  the  names  and  places 
of  the  misappropriated  lines.  Emily  was  part  and 
parcel  of  all  these  gatherings.  Several  of  this  group  had 
beauty,  all  had  intelligence  and  character,  and  others 
had  charm.  My  busy  married  life  separated  me  from 
these  friends  of  my  youth,  and  intercourse  with  them  has 
not  been  frequent;  but  I  rejoice  that  my  early  years 
were  passed  in  scenes  of  beautiful  nature,  and  with  these 
mates  of  simple  life,  high  cultivation  and  noble  ideals." 
Such  was  Amherst  Academy  in  the  days  of  its  glory, 
as  seen  through  the  eyes  of  the  girls  who  were  among 
its  pupils.  Professor  W.  S.  Tyler,  quoting  the  words 
of  an  eyewitness,  records  these  facts  concerning  this 
famous  school:  "Under  the  government  and  instruction 
of  such  superior  teachers  the  academy  obtained  a  reputa- 
tion second  to  none  in  the  State On  Wednesday 

afternoons  all  the  scholars  assembled  in  the  upper  hall 

39 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

for  reviews,  declamations,  compositions  and  exercises 
in  reading  in  which  both  gentlemen  and  ladies  partici- 
pated. Spectators  were  admitted  and  were  often  pres- 
ent in  large  numbers,  among  whom  Dr.  Parsons  and 
Mr.  Webster,  president  and  vice-president  of  the  board 
of  trustees,  might  usually  be  seen,  and  often  the  lawyers, 
physicians  and  other  educated  men  of  the  place.  Xot 
unfrequently  gentlemen  from  out  of  town  were  present, 
including  Dr.  Packard,  who  early  became  a  trustee,  and 
was  much  interested  in  the  prosperity  of  the  institution. 
Once  a  year  at  the  close  of  the  fall  term  in  October,  the 
old  meeting  house  was  fitted  up  with  a  stage  and, 
strange  to  tell,  in  the  staid  town  of  Amherst  where  danc- 
ing was  tabooed  and  cards  never  dared  show  themselves, 
reverend  divines  went  with  lawyers  and  doctors  to  the 
house  of  God  to  witness  a  theatrical  exhibition." 

A  valuable  library  was  provided  for  the  use  of  the 
pupils.  All  were  expected  to  take  part  in  the  weekly 
Bible  lesson  and  all  attended  morning  and  evening 
prayers  in  the  Academy  hall  and  public  worship  in  one 
of  the  churches  on  the  Sabbath.  There  was  a  weekly 
literary  society  connected  with  the  Academy.  Scholars 
from  out  of  town  could  get  a  room  for  fifty  cents  a  week 
and  board  for  $1.17.  Pupils  could  attend  college  lec- 
tures without  charge. 

Thomas  Jones  served  on  the  board  of  trustees  of  this 
Academy  from  1841  to  his  death  in  18.53  and  sent  his 
children  to  it  to  be  educated.  Thomas  Jones.  Jr.,  at- 
tended this  school  in  1812.  1843.  1847  and  1848:  Mary 
French  was  a  pupil  in  the  French  class.  Samuel  Minot 
Jones  attended  this  school  in  1847,  1849.  1850  and  18.51 
and  probably  previous  to  1847.     Other  Amherst  pupils 

40 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

were  Charles  H.  Hitchcock,  son  of  President  Hitchcock 
of  Amherst  College,  Charles  U.  Boltwood,  Laura 
Emerson,  Lavinia  Dickinson,  Henry  Hills,  M.  Fayette 
Dickinson,  Mason  Tyler,  Mary  B.  Snell  and  Emily 
Dickinson.  Samuel  31.  Jones  took  part  in  the  exhibi- 
tion held  August  10,  1847,  when  he  was  eleven  years  old 
and  declaimed  Everett's  oration.  In  1849  he  took  part 
in  a  farce  adapted  from  Charles  Lamb. 

The  Academy  building  was  for  its  time  an  imposing 
structure,  devoid  of  ornament  and  planned  for  utility. 
It  was  a  marvelous  schoolhouse  in  comparison  with  the 
old  district  schoolhouse  on  Pleasant  Street  which  Xoah 
Webster  found  on  his  first  arrival  in  Amherst.  It  stood 
in  the  center  of  a  half-acre  lot  on  Amity  Street.  It  was 
a  three-story  building  with  a  basement.  It  was  fifty 
feet  long  and  thirty-eight  feet  wide  and  contained  recita- 
tion rooms,  an  apartment  for  a  family,  with  a  kitchen, 
and  an  assembly  hall.  The  family  superintended  the 
building  and  kept  a  boarding  house  in  the  early  years 
of  the  institution,  but  afterwards  the  building  was  de- 
voted wholly  to  school  purposes.  Amherst  Academy 
was  the  nucleus  out  of  which  Amherst  College  was 
developed. 

In  this  school  Samuel  Minot  Jones  was  fitted  for  col- 
lege and  received  that  thorough  instruction  and  train- 
ing from  his  teachers  which  prepared  him  for  practical 
life.  The  culture  was  intensive  and  yet  broad  enough 
to  give  him  an  outlook  into  the  world.  The  frequent 
reviews  and  public  oral  examinations  fixed  what  he 
learned  in  his  mind,  making  it  entirely  his  own  for  future 
use.  His  compositions  and  declamations  taught  him  to 
express  what  he  thought  in  the  presence  of  others  so  that 

41 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

they  could  get  his  ideas  and  feel  his  influence.  By  asso- 
ciating with  scholars  older  than  himself,  both  young  men 
and  young  women,  coming  from  distant  parts  of  the 
state  and  country  and  actuated  by  a  serious  purpose,  he 
gained  self-control,  self-reliance  and  self-direction. 

The  death  of  his  father  when  Samuel  Minot  Jones  was 
seventeen  years  of  age  changed  the  boy's  plans.  He 
would  not  consent  to  be  dependent  upon  his  mother  for 
his  support  and  therefore  did  not  enter  Amherst  College 
but  went  to  work  in  the  country  store  of  Sweetser, 
Cutler  &  Company,  dealers  in  general  merchandise. 
Here  one  could  buy  blue  and  green  flannel  reefing 
jackets,  all  kinds  of  clothing,  dress  goods,  china,  buffalo 
robes  and  ladies'  furs.  Groceries,  paints,  glass  and 
hardware  were  offered  at  the  lowest  prices. 

As  in  former  times  young  men  learned  to  be  ministers 
of  the  gospel  by  studying  divinity  with  settled  pastors, 
boys  learned  to  be  doctors  by  studying  with  practicing 
physicians  and  helping  them  mix  medicines  in  a  mortar, 
and  bright  scholars  studied  law  in  the  office  of  a  noted 
judge  where  they  learned  not  only  principles  from 
Blackstone  but  practical  details  of  the  profession  by 
making  out  legal  papers,  so,  as  there  were  no  business 
colleges  available  in  his  day,  Samuel  Minot  Jones  be- 
came a  clerk  and  utility  man  in  the  village  store.  Here 
was  the  town  forum  where  leading  citizens  gathered  to 
pass  the  time  of  day  and  discuss  questions  of  moment. 
Here  farmers  brought  their  produce  from  adjacent 
towns.  Here  women  and  girls  came  to  do  their  shop- 
ping. Tea  and  coffee  and  spices  from  the  East  Indies, 
cashmere  and  fine  fabrics  from  Europe,  satinets  and 
calicoes  from  American  mills,  led  one's  mind  to  think  of 

42 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

distant  places  and  of  a  big  world.  Human  nature  dis- 
played itself  between  traders.  Mercantile  bookkeep- 
ing required  accuracy  and  patience.  Most  customers 
had  accounts  which  they  settled  at  least  once  a  year. 

Today  in  a  large  department  store  the  division  of  labor 
is  so  great  that  any  one  clerk  or  employee  can  learn  only 
a  small  part  of  the  business.  She  sells  gloves,  it  may  be, 
and  nothing  else.  He  measures  calico  by  the  yard  and 
that  is  all.  But  in  the  old-fashioned  country  store  the 
boy  learned  the  whole  business,  dry  goods,  boots  and 
shoes,  groceries,  hardware.  He  swept  the  floor,  built  the 
fires,  delivered  parcels,  sold  goods,  kept  accounts, 
studied  human  nature.  He  worked  early  and  late  with 
hands  and  feet,  with  tongue  and  brains. 

Sweetser  &  Cutler's  store  was  a  town  institution.  In 
it  George  Cutler  learned  the  business  in  his  boyhood 
and  continued  his  interest  in  it  until  his  death  at  the  age 
of  ninety-six.  His  son,  George  Cutler,  Jr.,  followed 
him  in  the  same  course.  In  it  many  of  the  leading  busi- 
ness men  of  Amherst  and  other  towns  served  their 
apprenticeship.  One  generation  after  another  has 
passed,  but  the  business  is  still  continued  at  the  old  stand 
and  conducted  along  similar  lines. 

In  addition  to  the  training  provided  by  home  and 
school  and  country  store  the  influence  of  the  village 
church  was  potent  in  giving  decision  of  character  to 
young  Jones  and  in  fitting  him  to  accept  responsibilities 
of  life  and  to  keep  steadfastly  in  pursuit  of  the  end  of 
his  being  as  duty  pointed  out  the  path. 

Thomas  Jones  had  a  pew  in  the  village  church  and 
that  it  was  considered  an  asset  of  real  value  may  be 
inferred   from  the  following  advertisement  which   ap- 

4:3 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

peared  in  the  Hampshire  and  Franklin  Express:  "Pew 
for  sale.  Pew  Xo.  15.  Pleasantly  situated  near  the 
center  of  Rev.  Mr.  Dwight's  church  on  the  south  side  of 
the  middle  aisle  and  in  front  of  the  pew  of  the  late 
Thomas  Jones."  Rev.  Edward  S.  Dwight,  D.D.,  was 
pastor  of  the  church  from  August  21,  18.53,  to  August 
28,  1860.  He  was  a  graduate  of  Yale  College,  and  for 
many  years  secretary  of  the  Amherst  College  hoard  of 
trustees.  He  was  a  refined,  scholarly  gentleman  of  the 
old  school.  He  succeeded  Aaron  M.  Colton,  who  was 
pastor  thirteen  years,  from  1840  to  1853,  which  com- 
prised most  of  the  boyhood  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones. 

This  village  church  of  the  Congregational  denomina- 
tion was  the  dominant  institution  in  the  town.  Its  or- 
ganization preceded  by  twenty  years  that  of  the  town 
itself.  The  third  meeting  house  was  built  in  1829  and 
was  used  until  18G8,  when  it  became  the  property  of 
Amherst  College.  In  this  meeting  house  members  of 
the  family  of  Thomas  Jones  were  regular  attendants. 
Music  was  provided  by  a  choir  seated  in  the  gallery.  A 
bass  viol,  a  flute  and  other  instruments  were  in  use  be- 
fore an  organ  was  secured.  In  1832  stoves  were  allowed 
to  be  placed  in  the  meeting  house  and  in  1857  a  chande- 
lier and  lamps  were  used  for  lighting.  The  students  of 
the  .Academy  had  seats  in  the  gallery.  The  church 
prayer  meeting  was  considered  by  young  men  preparing 
for  the  ministry  as  a  school  as  well  as  a  place  for  devo- 
tion. Mr.  Colton's  pulpit,  as  described  by  himself,  was 
"of  pine  wood,  narrow,  doored  and  achingly  plain.  Alan 
up  there  had  to  look  well  to  his  elbows  in  essaying  a 
gesture.  High  and  closed  against  all  assaults:  but  so 
were   the   old    Bastile   towers   in   which   prisoners   were 

44 


'•''Vf* 


v%^ 


S%P^* 


OT 


i  '  V" 


v^~ 


I'm     M  i  i  i  i\<;    1  loi  >i 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

immured."  Its  height,  however,  enabled  the  preacher 
to  face  his  hearers  in  the  galleries  as  well  as  the  congre- 
gation below  his  desk.  But  when  Sam  Jones  was  a  boy 
six  years  old  a  new  pulpit,  bought  in  Boston,  replaced 
the  old  one.  In  later  years  Pastor  Colton  said,  "Per- 
haps the  parish  has  never  since  been  stronger  as  to 
number,  character,  wealth  and  standing  of  chief  men." 
These  included  lawyers,  doctors,  merchants,  clergymen, 
teachers,  an  editor,  bankers,  the  postmaster,  manufac- 
turers and  a  score  or  more  of  leading  citizens.  Evening 
meetings  were  held  in  the  Academy  to  save  lighting  the 
church.  The  pastor  preached  two  sermons  on  fast  days 
and  two  sermons  on  communion  Sabbaths,  when  the 
sacrament  was  administered  during  the  noon  hour,  and 
a  prayer  meeting  was  held  the  same  evening. 

During  Mr.  Colton's  ministry  there  were  three  re- 
vivals, in  1841,  1843  and  18.50.  The  last  one  began  in 
January  and  continued  until  August.  There  were  150 
conversions  and  68  converts  joined  the  church  in  one  day, 
August  11.  The  spiritual  awakening  was  greatly  aug- 
mented by  the  temperance  revival  which  accompanied  it. 
The  story  as  told  by  Pastor  Colton  at  the  150th  anniver- 
sary of  the  church  in  1889  is  as  follows: 

"Early  in  January,  1850,  the  prayer  meetings  were 
notably  fuller  and  more  solemn.  A  cloud  of  mercy 
seemed  to  hang  over  us  and  ready  to  drop  down  fatness. 
Days  and  weeks  passed,  but  no  conversions.  What  was 
the  hindrance?  Once  and  again  the  church  standing 
committee — the  Deacons — met  in  the  pastor's  study  to 
talk  and  pray  over  this  question.  Oppressing  fear  was 
felt,  lest  our  dawn  should  shut  down  in  darkness.  The 
trouble,  we  came  to  believe,  was  in  the  rum  places  in  the 

45 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

village  with  fires  of  hell  in  full  blast.  What  could  be 
done?  My  counselors  did  wisely  in  advising  prudence, 
for  we  were  told  the  rum  men  were  desperate.  Kind 
words  had  been  used,  but  availed  nothing.  You  can 
imagine  a  pastor's  anxieties  in  such  an  emergency. 
March  meeting  was  close  by.  I  drew  up  two  articles 
and  obtained  five  signatures  asking  for  their  insertion 
in  the  warrant:  First,  to  see  if  it  be  the  wish  of  the  town 
of  Amherst  that  places  be  kept  open  here  for  the  sale  of 
intoxicating  drinks  in  violation  of  law;  and,  second,  to 
see  if  the  town  will  authorize  and  instruct  their  selectmen 
to  close  such  places,  if  such  there  be  in  the  town.  I  went 
to  Lieutenant  Dickinson  of  the  South  Parish,  and 
Judge  Conkey  of  the  East,  and  Daniel  Dickinson  of  the 
North,  and  President  Hitchcock  of  the  College.  They 
all  promised  to  give  a  helping  word,  Dr.  Hitchcock  to 
speak  last.  The  meeting  came.  Sweetser's  Hall  was 
crowded  to  the  stairs.  There  was  much  excitement.  A 
man  from  South  Amherst  moved  that  the  articles  be  dis- 
missed. This  was  voted  down.  Then  the  main  question, 
and  now  the  speaking  as  pre-arranged — Dr.  Hitchcock 
closing — and  a  more  affecting  and  effective  appeal  than 
his  I  have  never  heard.  He  said  in  substance:  'The 
people  of  Amherst  are  aware  that  I  have  not  been  in  the 
habit  of  meddling  in  the  affairs  of  the  town.  I  feel  that 
the  interests  of  myself  and  family  are  safe  in  the  care 
of  the  town,  and  I  am  confident  that  the  good  people 
here  who  have  done  so  nobly  for  the  College  will  not 
allow  the  institution  to  suffer  injuries  from  evil  causes 
among  us';  and  then  with  an  emphasis  that  fairly  choked 
his  utterance  he  added:  'But  it  were  better  that  the  Col- 
lege should  go  down,  than  that  young  men  should  come 

4(> 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

here  to  be  ruined  by  drink  places  among  us.'  Then  the 
voting— 400  hands  shot  up  for  abating  the  nuisances — 
so  it  was  said.  Contrary  minds — just  one  hand,  and  one 
only  and  alone.  The  next  morning  at  ten  o'clock  the 
selectmen  went  to  these  rum  resorts  and  shut  them  up. 
'Then  the  heavens  gave  rain  and  there  was  a  great 
refreshing.'  " 

Professor  W.  S.  Tyler  at  the  150th  anniversary  of 
the  church  bore  this  testimony  to  the  important  place  it 
held  in  the  community : 

"As  historian  of  Amherst  College  I  ought  to  know 
something  of  the  origin  and  history  of  these  (educa- 
tional) institutions.  And  I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying 
that  the  officers  and  members  of  this  church  were  the 
founders  of  Amherst  Academy  and  Amherst  College, 
and  inasmuch  as  the  Agricultural  College  was  the 
daughter  of  Amherst  College,  this  church  is  the  mother 
of  them  all. 

"Amherst  College  was  founded   ....   by  a  single 

local  church The  ministers  and  members  of  this 

church  took  the  lead.  They  bore  the  burden.  They  did 
the  work.  They  gave  the  money  to  begin  the  work. 
They  poured  it  out  like  water  when  money  was  scarce, 
when  ten  dollars  was  worth  as  much  as  a  hundred  is  now, 
when  it  was  more  difficult  to  get  ten  dollars  for  a  college 
than  it  is  to  get  a  thousand  now.  None  of  them  was 
rich.  Some  of  them  literally  made  themselves  poor  by 
their  liberal  giving." 

Noah  Webster  wrote  the  constitution  of  the  First 
Church  Sunday  school  and  was  the  chairman  of  the 
board  of  managers.  Joseph  Estabrook,  the  first  pro- 
fessor of  Greek  and  Latin  in  the  College,  was  the  first 

47 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

superintendent  of  the  first  Sunday  school  in  Amherst. 
Many  of  the  teachers  were  college  students.  "Henry 
Ward  Beecher,"  Professor  Tyler  continues,  "then  a 
senior  in  college,  was  the  inspiring  teacher  of  a  large  class 
of  young  men,  when  I  was  superintendent.  The  great 
revival  of  1831,  which  was  equally  powerful  in  the  Col- 
lege and  the  village,  originated  in  the  Sabbath  School 
concert." 

"Witness,"  says  Professor  Tyler,  "the  generous  sub- 
scription to  the  building  and  the  books  of  the  library  of 
Amherst  College  which,  beginning  as  such  subscriptions 
usually  do,  in  the  First  Church  and  parish  of  Amherst, 
extended  to  the  other  parishes  of  this  and  several  neigh- 
boring towns,  gave  the  College  not  only  a  new  library 
building  but  a  new  epoch  in  its  general  prosperity." 

The  First  Church  bell  came  from  the  foundry  of  Paul 
Revere.  When  that  was  worn  out  others  took  its  place. 
The  church  bell  not  only  tolled  for  the  dead,  one  stroke 
for  each  year  of  age  of  the  deceased,  but  it  rang  daily  at 
noon  for  the  dinner  hour  and  at  nine  o'clock  each  night 
the  curfew  rang  the  hour  for  retiring.  Its  peals  on  Sab- 
bath day  called  the  people  to  worship,  when  as  a  matter 
of  course  young  and  old,  boys  and  girls,  went  to  church. 

Eugene  Field,  with  his  erratic  genius,  when  a  boy 
chafed  under  the  strict  discipline  of  the  Jones  family 
and  the  Puritan  spirit  of  Amherst  which  compelled  his 
attendance  at  the  meeting  house  on  the  hill,  where,  ac- 
companied by  George  Cutler's  flute  and  the  bass  viol 
played  by  Josiah  Ay  res  and  the  strident  notes  of  the 
violin,  the  choir  and  congregation  sang  "That  awful  day 
will  surely  come,"  and  "That  last  great  day  of  woe  and 
doom,"  and  "Broad  is  the  way  that  leads  to  death."     To 

48 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

him  and  other  kindred  spirits  the  Sabbath  often  seemed 
to  be  a  veritable  day  of  judgment.  In  his  later  years 
Eugene  Field  spoke  humorously  of  those  all-day  ses- 
sions in  church  and  Sunday  school,  so  his  biographer 
declares,  "though  he  never  failed  to  acknowledge  the 
benefits  he  had  derived  from  the  enforced  study  of  the 
Bible."  "If  I  could  be  grateful  to  Xew  England  for 
nothing  else,"  the  poet  declared,  "I  shall  bless  her  for- 
ever for  pounding  me  with  the  Bible  and  the  spelling 
book." 

The  observance  of  Sunday,  which  began  at  sundown 
on  Saturday  and  closed  at  sundown  on  Sunday,  the 
evening  and  the  morning  comprising  the  first  day,  was 
enforced  not  only  by  the  church  but  by  the  town  as  well. 

In  July,  184.5,  a  circus  was  advertised  to  give  two  per- 
formances on  Saturday  afternoon  and  evening.  There 
were  to  appear  "a  melodious  brass  band  and  female 
equestrians."  There  was  little  protest  against  the  after- 
noon performance,  but  to  permit  a  circus  to  exhibit 
Saturday  night  was  to  desecrate  the  Sabbath.  The 
whole  town  became  excited.  The  selectmen  were  called 
to  account  for  permitting  such  a  desecration  of  sacred 
time.  They  in  their  own  defense  declared  that  they  had 
issued  a  license  for  the  afternoon  only  and  that  the  pro- 
posed evening  exhibition  was  unauthorized.  A  special 
courier  was,  therefore,  sent  posthaste  to  Worcester  bear- 
ing the  town's  ultimatum  to  the  circus  managers  that  no 
exhibition  should  be  given  in  the  evening  and  that  if 
they  were  not  satisfied  with  one  performance  only,  in  the 
afternoon,  they  must  give  none. 

During  the  boyhood  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones,  the 
Puritan  home,  the  schools,  the  business  organizations, 

49 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

the  college,  the  church  and  the  town  were  united.  These 
were  all  factors  of  a  homogeneous  community  cooperat- 
ing for  the  general  welfare  and  for  the  education  and 
training  of  the  individuals  of  the  rising  generation.  The 
social,  intellectual,  moral  and  religious  atmosphere  was 
all-pervasive  and  most  powerful  in  its  influence  over  the 
hoy  in  his  infancy  and  during  the  period  of  adolescence. 
The  traits  inherited  from  his  forefathers  were  strength- 
ened in  the  growth  of  Sam  Jones  and  so  molded  as  to 
give  him  a  character  that  fitted  him  for  his  future  career. 
He  learned  the  nobility  of  labor.  He  was  brought  up 
to  work.  Everybody  worked,  young  and  old,  rich  and 
poor,  boys  and  girls.  Labor  was  not  the  badge  of  a 
slave.  Labor  was  divine.  He  was  shown  the  value  of 
intelligence.  It  was  work  intelligently  planned  and 
wisely  executed  that  brought  results  worth  the  effort. 
In  his  large  family  of  brothers  and  sisters  he  learned 
self-control  and  cooperation.  The  young  folks  worked 
together  as  they  played  together.  Intelligence  con- 
sisted not  merely  in  memorizing  ideas  of  other  minds, 
but  in  the  power  to  think  for  oneself,  to  discover  the 
adaptation  of  means  to  ends.  His  father  in  his  factories 
must  look  ahead  and  anticipate  the  demand  of  the 
market  for  his  goods  and  then  produce  them  by  organiz- 
ing labor,  applying  it  to  raw  material  and  producing 
what  was  fitted  to  supply  human  need.  The  Yankee 
farmer  during  the  winter  planned  his  next  season's 
work:  in  spring,  sowing  seed  to  be  harvested  in  autumn; 
in  summer,  preparing  for  the  winter.  Intelligence  con- 
sisted in  embodying  the  truth  in  such  fashion  as  to  be 
able  to  apply   it  to  the  practical   affairs  of  life.     The 

50 


BIRTH  AND  EARLY  EDUCATION 

public  schools,  the  Academy,  the  college,  the  Sunday 
school,  combined  to  make  him  intelligent. 

Sam  Jones  was  taught  the  majesty  of  the  law  and 
reverence  for  law  and  order.  The  law  of  the  family, 
the  law  of  the  factory,  the  law  of  the  school,  the  law  of 
the  town,  state  and  nation  was  not  to  be  defied,  ignored 
or  evaded.  It  must  be  obeyed.  License  was  not  liberty. 
His  declamation  of  Everett's  oration  and  his  studies  in 
the  Academy  gave  him  an  idea  of  the  sacredness  of  law. 
The  church  and  the  Sunday  school  taught  him  the  neces- 
sity of  righteousness.  The  Ten  Commandments  re- 
vealed to  him  the  meaning  of  two  important  phrases: 
"Thou  shalt"  and  "Thou  shalt  not."  They  developed 
his  conscience  and  strengthened  his  will.  The  sense  of 
his  own  individual  responsibility,  involving  self-control 
and  self-direction,  gave  him  the  determination  to  think 
right,  feel  right,  choose  right,  do  right  and  be  right.  So 
at  eighteen  years  of  age  we  find  Samuel  Minot  Jones 
trained  to  work  intelligently,  in  accordance  with  the 
laws  of  nature,  the  laws  of  thought,  the  laws  of  the 
State,  for  righteous  ends. 

The  death  of  Thomas  Jones  in  1853  changed  the  plans 
of  his  son,  then  seventeen  years  old.  Although  pre- 
pared for  the  college  which  was  the  pride  of  Amherst 
and  which  he  might  have  attended  while  living  at  home, 
he  nevertheless  would  not  consent  to  be  dependent  upon 
his  mother  for  support  while  spending  four  long  years  in 
study.  He  believed  that  it  was  his  duty  rather  to  sup- 
port her  and  help  her  maintain  her  position  as  head  of 
the  Jones  mansion.  He  was  ambitious  for  a  business 
life.  His  half  brothers,  older  than  he,  were  already  in 
the  West  located  on  the  wide  prairies  of  Illinois  among 

51 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

other  pioneers.  So  the  young  man  of  eighteen,  no 
longer  a  boy,  bade  good-by  to  his  mother  and  his  sister 
Augusta,  his  schoolmates  and  many  friends,  and  made 
the  journey  of  a  thousand  miles  to  Chicago,  then  a 
growing  city  of  30,000  pioneers  recently  located  on  the 
southwest  shore  of  Lake  Michigan.  A  canal  had  been 
dug  connecting  the  lake  with  the  head  of  navigation  on 
the  Illinois  River,  which  emptied  into  the  Mississippi. 
Early  settlers  from  Xew  England  had  made  their 
journey  through  the  Erie  Canal  on  packet  boats,  in 
which  they  could  board  themselves  if  they  so  desired,  to 
Buffalo  and  thence  by  steamboats  across  Lake  Erie,  and 
perchance  through  Lakes  Huron  and  Michigan.  But 
in  1854  railroad  connections  had  been  made  by  the  Xew 
York  Central,  the  Lake  Shore  and  the  Michigan 
Southern.  Other  railroads  made  Chicago  their  center. 
Sam  Jones  found  employment  in  the  lumber  office  of 
James  PL  Ferry  &  Company,  at  the  foot  of  Washington 
Street.  Here  he  remained  for  two  years.  The  contrast 
between  his  life  in  his  Puritan  home  in  Amherst,  where 
he  was  protected  from  temptation  on  every  side,  and  his 
life  in  the  new  city  of  Chicago,  where  were  gathered  to- 
gether on  the  western  border  men,  women  and  children 
from  all  lauds,  each  in  the  strenuous  fight  for  money,  for 
fame  or  for  pleasure,  was  most  remarkable.  He  was 
thrust  into  the  midst  of  an  entirely  new  world,  his  own 
master,  where  he  could  do  as  he  pleased  with  no  one  to 
compel  him  to  do  this  or  to  prohibit  his  doing  that.  But 
here  his  self-control,  self-direction  and  dominant  pur- 
pose to  care  for  and  please  his  mother,  kept  him  from 
pitfalls  on  all  sides,  proved  his  salvation,  and  gave  him 
final  success. 


CHAPTER  III 
THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Samuel  Minot  Jones,  after  serving  an  apprenticeship 
in  the  city,  went  to  Knoxville,  Illinois,  five  miles  from 
Galesburg,  to  be  associated  in  the  lumber  business  with 
his  brother,  William  G.  Jones.  Later,  about  1857,  he 
went  to  Havana,  the  county  seat  of  Mason  County, 
located  on  the  Illinois  River,  thirty-nine  miles  north- 
west of  Springfield  and  midway  between  Chicago  and 
St.  Louis,  Missouri.  Here  he  was  in  business  with  his 
brother,  Thomas  Jones.  Havana  was  the  market  not 
only  for  Mason  County,  but  also  for  the  rich  farming 
communities  on  both  sides  of  the  river.  Wood  was 
found  only  along  the  rivers  so  that  the  dwellers  on  the 
prairies  must  trade  their  grain  and  dairy  products  for 
the  lumber  needed  to  construct  their  houses,  barns  and 
other  buildings. 

Here  the  Jones  brothers,  with  their  Xew  England 
thrift  and  enterprise,  were  able  to  meet  the  demands  of 
the  pioneers  who  came  not  only  from  the  Atlantic  coast 
but  also  from  Ohio  and  the  South  to  seek  their  fortune 
on  the  fertile  and  cheap  lands  of  the  new  commonwealth. 
The  business  of  the  firm  prospered.  The  younger 
brother,  Samuel  Minot,  became  a  man  and  he  was  fast 
realizing  his  dreams  and  achieving  his  plans  to  be  the 
support  of  his  widowed  mother  and  his  sisters  in  Am- 

53 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

herst,  when  the  whole  situation  was  changed  by  the  out- 
break of  the  Civil  War.  Abe  Lincoln,  the  Springfield 
lawyer,  was  elected  President  of  the  United  States.  The 
election  of  I860  and  the  preceding  events,  including  the 
debates  between  Lincoln  and  Douglas,  created  an  at- 
mosphere in  which  all  the  inherited  instincts  for  patriotic 
service  and  love  of  liberty  in  the  soul  of  Samuel  Minot 
Jones  were  aroused  to  action.  His  uncle,  Roswell 
Martin  Field,  his  mother's  brother,  won  fame  by  his 
part  in  the  trial  of  the  Dred  Scott  case  before  the  United 
States  Supreme  Court.  The  convention  that  nominated 
Lincoln  was  held  in  Chicago  and  Illinois  was  a  pivotal 
state  hotly  contested  in  the  election.  It  was  from 
Springfield,  only  a  few  miles  from  Havana,  that  Lincoln 
started  for  Washington  to  run  the  gauntlet  of  assassins 
to  assume  his  great  responsibility. 

Under  such  circumstances  Samuel  Minot  Jones  did 
not  hesitate  to  give  up  his  ambition  for  a  business  career 
and  to  subordinate  his  love  of  mother  and  of  home  to 
his  love  of  country,  and  to  consecrate  his  young  man- 
hood to  the  service  of  freedom.  He  hastened  to  St. 
Louis  at  the  beginning  of  the  war  and  enlisted,  July  9, 
1861,  aged  twenty-five  years,  in  the  Oth  Missouri  Regi- 
ment, which  afterwards  became  the  50th  Illinois  Regi- 
ment of  Infantry.  He  was  mustered  in  July  17,  1801, 
and  commissioned  by  the  Governor  of  Missouri  First 
Lieutenant  and  was  assigned  to  Company  A.  He  re- 
signed January  8,  18(>.'S,  on  account  of  severe  illness  re- 
sulting from  a  wound  in  his  leg  and  an  attack  of  typhoid 
fever,  and  was  discharged  on  that  date  in  Tennessee. 
During  these  eighteen  months  he  shared  in  all  the 
strenuous  service  of  his   regiment  and  was  repeatedly 

54 


THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

cited  for  bravery  and  distinguished  efficiency  in  critical 
emergencies. 

The  organization  of  the  9th  Missouri  Regiment,  com- 
posed of  stalwart,  self-reliant  pioneer  citizens  of  Illinois 
and  adjoining  states,  was  completed  September  18, 1861, 
by  Colonel  John  C.  Kelton  in  St.  Louis,  Missouri. 
Three  days  later  it  was  ordered  to  Jefferson  City,  and 
soon  after  was  moved  to  Booneville  and  brigaded  with 
the  37th  Illinois,  the  5th  Iowa,  the  1st  Kansas  and  David- 
son's Battery  of  Illinois.  Colonel  J.  C.  Kelton  com- 
manded the  brigade  and  General  John  Pope  the  divi- 
sion. October  13  the  regiment  moved  to  Otterville  and, 
later,  to  Springfield,  Missouri.  February  12,  1862,  the 
regiment  was  changed  to  the  59th  Illinois.  Two  days 
later,  under  the  command  of  Major  P.  Sidney  Post,  it 
pursued  the  enemy  to  Cassville. 

This  regiment  participated  in  the  battles  of  Pea 
Ridge,  Corinth,  Perryville,  Knox  Gap,  Liberty  Gap, 
Chickamauga,  Lookout  Mountain,  Mission  Ridge, 
Resica,  Cassville,  Dallas,  Rockyface  Ridge,  Kenesaw 
Mountain,  Smyrna  Station,  Atlanta,  Love  joy  Station, 
Franklin  and  Nashville.  It  marched  through  Missouri, 
Arkansas.  Kentucky,  Alabama,  Mississippi  and  Ten- 
nessee, enduring  hardships  innumerable  in  all  kinds  of 
weather. 

The  two  memorable  battles  in  which  Lieutenant  S.  M. 
Jones  took  part  were  at  Pea  Ridge,  Arkansas,  and  at 
Stone  River,  Tennessee.  The  battle  at  Pea  Ridge  in 
the  Ozark  Mountains,  in  the  northwest  corner  of  Arkan- 
sas, occurring  early  in  the  war  and  resulting  in  a  notable 
victory  for  the  Union  forces,  did  much  to  encourage  the 

55 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

North  and  to  make  the  South  realize  the  nature  of  the 
struggle  upon  which  it  had  entered. 

The  Union  forces  had  been  lured  far  from  their  base 
at  Springfield,  Missouri,  into  the  mountains,  just  where 
the  Confederate  generals  had  set  a  trap  for  them.  Van 
Dorn,  McCulloch,  Price  and  Mcintosh  coming  from 
different  points  concentrated  their  forces  with  a  regi- 
ment of  Indians  under  Pike  and  Ross  so  that  their  com- 
bined armies  numbered  about  75,000,  or  three  times  that 
of  the  Union  forces.  Their  plans  were  skillfully  laid  to 
throw  a  strong  force  between  the  Union  army  and  its 
line  of  communication  with  the  base  at  Springfield,  so 
as  to  surround  it  completely  and  ensure  its  capture. 
These  plans  succeeded  so  far  that  General  Price  threw 
his  strong  force  in  the  rear  of  the  Union  army  before  its 
generals  were  aware  of  the  fact.  Why  the  South's  hope 
of  victory,  so  nearly  attained,  was  suddenly  turned  into 
an  ignominious  defeat  is  explained  by  this  interesting 
letter  written  on  the  battlefield  by  Lieutenant  Jones  and 
sent  to  his  brother: 

In  camp  on  Sugar  Creek,  Ark., 
March  16,  1802. 
My  Dear  Brother : 

You  have  doubtless  seen  e'er  tin's  will  reach  you  the  full 
particulars  of  our  great  fight  and  as  I  do  not  feel  in  a  writing 
mood  I  shall  not  go  into  details,  but  merely  state  a  few  facts 
to  you  which  will  be  likely  to  be  kept  in  the  dark  by  those  in 
high  position.  Our  whole  army  fell  back  some  fifteen  miles  from 
the  advance  we  first  made  and  on  the  bluff  of  Sugar  Creek  made 
preparations  to  receive  the  enemy,  if  he  advanced,  and,  if  we 
found  thev  were  in  too  heavy  force  for  us,  we  had  the  way 
open  to  fall  back.  Imagine  our  surprise  when  on  the  morning 
of  the  7th  of  March  at  about  10  o'clock  it  was  found  the  enemy 

.5(5 


THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

had  thrown  their  whole  force  into  our  rear  and  on  our  right. 
The  truth  is  we  had  been  entirely  outgeneraled  and  were  forced 
to  fight  a  vastly  superior  force  and  to  whip  them  or  surrender. 
By  a  train  of  circumstances  which  seem  little  less  than  miracu- 
lous and  the  unflinching  valor  of  our  troops,  we  accomplished 
the  former  against  odds  of  three  to  one.  What  I  consider 
gained  the  day  for  us  was  the  killing  of  McCulloch  and  Mcin- 
tosh the  afternoon  of  the  first  day  by  our  Brigade  in  its  en- 
counter with  their  forces  and  the  Indians  under  Pike  and  B.oss. 
When  they  were  killed,  their  troops  were  thrown  into  confusion 
and  their  reserve  which  amounted  to  some  thousands  failed  to 
come  up,  leaving  our  boys  victors.  Meanwhile  Price  had  been 
fighting  Carr  directly  in  our  rear  and  had  been  gaining  ground 
all  day,  having  taken  three  of  our  cannon.  So  the  first  day 
closed.  Our  boys  bivouacked  on  the  field  they  had  so  dearly  won. 
Towards  morning  it  was  found  that  the  forces  our  Division 
had  met  and  routed  had  left  their  portion  of  the  field  (since 
ascertained  that  discouraged  by  the  loss  of  their  generals  they 
had  all  retreated  in  the  night)  leaving  us  Van  Dorn  and  Price 
to  fight  the  next  day  with  our  whole  force  which  we  did  and 
after  a  hard  fight  of  four  hours  completely  whipped  them  at 
all  points.  Had  we  been  obliged  to  fight  their  whole  combined 
army  the  second  day  we  should  have  had  a  terribly  tough  time 
of  it. 

Lieutenant  Jones'  reference  to  the  Indians  needs  to 
be  explained  by  this  communication  from  General 
Curtis : 

Head  Quarters  Army  of  South  West,  Pea  Ridge,  Ark., 

Mar.  9,  1862. 
Earl  Van  Dorn, 

Commander  Confederate  Forces : 

The  general  regrets  that  we  find  on  the  battlefield,  con- 
trarv  to  civilized  warfare,  many  of  the  Federal  dead  who  were 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

tomahawked,  scalped  and  their  bodies  shamelessly  mangled, 
and  expresses  a  hope  that  this  important  struggle  may  not 
degenerate  into  a  savage  warfare. 

By  order, 

Brig.  Gen'l  S.  R.  Curtis. 

How  the  victory  was  appreciated  by  the  country  may 
be  inferred  from  these  despatches: 

Hdquarters  Dpt  of  the  Missouri 
St.  Louis,  Mar.  10,  1862. 
Brigadier-Gen'l  Curtis, 

Commanding  in  Arkansas. 

I  congratulate  you  and  your  command  on  the  glorious 
victory  just  gained.  You  have  proved  yourselves  as  hrave  in 
battle  as  enduring  of  fatigue  and  hardship.  A  grateful  coun- 
try will  honor  you  for  both. 

H.  W.  Halleck, 

Major  General. 

Hdquarters  Dpt  of  the  Missouri 
St.  Louis,  Mar.  10,  1862. 
The  Army  of  the  Southwest  under  Gen'l  Curtis,  after  three 
days'  hard  fighting  near  Sugar  Creek.  Arkansas,  has  gained  a 
most  glorious  victory  over  the  combined  forces  of  \  an  Dorn, 
McCulloch,  Price  and  Mcintosh.  Our  loss  in  killed  and 
wounded  estimated  at  1000:  that  of  the  enemy  still  larger. 
Guns,  flags,  provisions,  etc.,  captured  in  large  quantities.  Our 
cavalry  in  pursuit  of  the  Hying  enemy. 

H.  W.  Halleck, 

Major  General. 
Major  Gen'l  McClellan, 

Washington. 

58 


THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

The  experience  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones  as  a  business 
man  was  discovered  soon  after  his  enlistment  and  he 
was  detailed  from  company  duty  to  serve  as  brigade 
quartermaster.  With  the  army  so  far  from  its  base,  the 
question  of  food,  clothing  and  other  supplies  for  men 
fighting  continuously  for  three  days  and  sleeping  on 
their  arms  in  the  open  field  in  the  mountains,  was  of 
momentous  importance.  But  he  was  the  man  for  the 
hour  and  ready  for  the  emergency.  He  seldom  spoke  of 
his  part  in  the  battle.  His  sensitive  nature  shrank  from 
the  bloody  scenes  enacted  about  him  when,  fighting  for 
their  lives  and  for  their  country,  surrounded  by  forces 
three  times  as  large  as  their  own,  those  western  stalwart 
pioneers,  attacked  by  savages  with  tomahawk  and  scalp- 
ing knives,  cut  their  way  out  and  put  the  enemy  to  flight. 
But  how  well  he  played  his  part  may  be  learned  from 
official  reports. 

Colonel  Julius  White,  commanding  2d  Brigade,  in 
his  report  to  General  J.  C.  Davis,  3d  Division,  of  the 
battle  of  Pea  Ridge,  Arkansas,  March  11,  1862,  says: 
"Brigade  Quartermaster  S.  M.  Jones  and  Brigade 
Commissary  A.  D.  Baker  have  during  the  three  days  of 
the  enemy's  presence  discharged  their  duties  promptly 
and  efficiently;  their  several  departments,  so  essential 
to  the  welfare  of  the  troops,  having  always  been  in 
order." 

After  this  victory  at  Sugar  Creek  the  regiment  re- 
sumed its  travels.  Post  was  made  its  Colonel  April  1, 
1862.  May  20  the  regiment  reached  Hamburg  Land- 
ing, Tennessee.  Eight  days  later  it  joined  General 
Pope's  reserve.  After  the  evacuation  of  Corinth  the 
regiment  pursued  the  enemy  to  Booneville  and   then 

59 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

marched  to  Ripley,  Missouri.  It  participated  in  the 
skirmish  at  Bay  Springs,  Missouri,  August  5,  and  on 
the  eighth  reached  Iuka.  August  18  the  Tennessee 
River  was  crossed  at  Eastport  and  the  regiment  en- 
camped at  Waterloo  with  Post  commanding  the  brigade 
and  General  Robert  B.  Mitchell  commander  of  the 
division.  The  regiment  reached  Florence,  Alabama, 
August  24,  and  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee,  September  1. 

The  next  march,  September  3  to  26,  ended  in  Louis- 
ville, Kentucky,  with  General  Buell.  A  new  campaign 
started  in  October  in  pursuit  of  General  Bragg's  forces 
to  Bardstown  and  on  the  seventh  the  enemy  was  over- 
taken at  Chaplain  Hills  near  Perryville.  The  following 
day  there  was  a  battle  in  which  113  men  out  of  361  were 
killed  or  wounded.  Pursuit  of  the  enemy  was  resumed 
on  the  tenth  of  October  and  four  days  later  there  was  a 
fight  at  Lancaster,  Kentucky.  Xashville,  Tennessee, 
was  reached  November  7. 

Here  seven  weeks  were  spent  in  preparation  for  the 
winter  campaign  under  General  Rosecrans,  command- 
ing the  Army  of  the  Cumberland.  The  day  after 
Christmas,  1862,  the  regiment  drove  the  enemy  until 
found  in  force  at  Xolensville,  where  after  a  fight  the 
Confederates  retreated  in  confusion.  Knob  Gap  was 
attacked  December  27  and  the  enemy  driven  out  to 
Triune.  Here  the  59th  Regiment  rested  for  two  days 
before  marching  to  Murfreesboro,  where  it  lay  within  a 
few  hundred  yards  of  the  enemy's  works.  Early  on  the 
thirty-first  the  enemy,  adopting  the  same  plan  as  that 
which  so  nearly  succeeded  at  Pea  Ridge,  surprised 
Rosecrans  by  throwing  a  strong  body  of  troops  in  the 

60 


THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

rear  of  the  Union  Army.  The  right  flank  of  the  20th 
Corps  was  turned  so  that  the  59th  Regiment  was  obliged 
to  change  front  and  face  to  the  rear.  Here,  supported 
by  the  5th  Wisconsin  Battery,  it  held  the  enemy  for  a 
long  time  and  brought  off  the  battery,  whose  horses  were 
killed.  As  before,  some  one  had  blundered  and  only  the 
dogged  determination  of  those  Western  veterans  saved 
the  day.  General  McCook's  right  wing  was  routed.  The 
enemy  following  up  attacked  Davis'  division  and 
speedily  dislodged  Post's  brigade,  including  the  59th 
Regiment. 

The  story,  as  told  in  the  report  of  Colonel  P.  Sidney 
Post,  commanding  the  1st  Brigade,  follows: 

"Dec.  26,  Men  after  fighting  in  rain  bivouacked  on 
the  field.  Dec.  27,  marched  in  rain  in  rear  of  Colonel 
Carlin's  regiment  nearly  to  Triune.  Dec.  29,  marched  in 
rear  of  Colonel  Woodruff's  brigade  toward  Murfrees- 
boro.  Dec.  30,  the  59th  in  reserve  to  support  battery. 
Afternoon  attacked  by  Rebel  battery,  enemy  in  strong 
force.  During  the  night  men  lay  down  without  fires  or 
shelter.  Dec.  81,  awakened  in  morning  and  stood  in 
order  of  battle  one  hour  before  the  first  light  of  dawn. 
Horses  stood  by  the  battery  all  night. 

"As  soon  as  it  became  light  the  enemy  were  dis- 
covered moving  in  great  numbers  toward  our  right  and 
nearly  parallel  with  our  line  with  the  evident  design  of 
turning  the  right  wing  of  the  army.  I  immediately 
despatched  Lieut.  Jones  of  my  staff  to  inform  Brigadier 
General  Davis." 

After  the  battle  of  Pea  Ridge  the  services  of  Samuel 
Minot  Jones  attracted  the  attention  of  his  superiors  so 

61 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

that  he  was  made  Adjutant.  That  was  a  memorable 
ride  of  his,  after  the  days  and  nights  of  terrible  conflict 
with  the  enemy  and  the  elements,  in  the  early  morning 
to  report  at  headquarters  the  serious  turn  of  the  battle. 
Reinforcements  were  needed  badly  and  needed  at  once, 
but  the  appeal  did  not  produce  the  desired  results.  Gen- 
eral Rosecrans  would  not  believe  that  the  enemy  could 
circumvent  him.  It  was  not  in  his  plan.  He  imagined 
that  General  McCook  could  hold  his  own. 

Colonel  Post's  report  continues:  "The  59th  prepared 
with  fixed  bayonets  to  receive  the  enemy's  charge.  But 
being  cut  off  by  the  enemy  in  the  rear  the  59th  withdrew 
dragging  two  Parrott  guns." 

Here  Lieutenant  Jones  appears  in  a  new  light.  Xot 
content  with  bearing  despatches  he  takes  the  initiative 
and  does  the  thing  that  needs  to  be  done  without  waiting 
for  orders.  "The  74th  and  75th  Illinois  regiments," 
the  report  states,  "fell  back  across  the  cotton  field  and 
under  the  direction  of  Lieutenant  Jones,  who  also  rallied 
a  number  of  detachments  from  other  regiments,  made  a 
determined  resistance  again  checking  the  foe.  The  fresh 
troops  from  the  reserves  here  relieved  the  brigade  and  I 
proceeded  to  the  pike,  reformed  my  shattered  battalions 
and  supplied  them  with  ammunition.  I  was  soon  ordered 
by  Brigadier  General  Davis  to  move  up  the  pike  and 
take  position  on  the  right  of  the  line,  and  the  men  lay 
down  for  the  night. 

"The  next  morning  I  was  ordered  to  occupy  the 
open  field  where  I  built  breastworks  and  stationed  a 
battery.  During  the  following  day,  after  skirmishing, 
the  men  crossed  Stone  River  in  the  afternoon,  which 
was  swollen  by  heavy  rains,  rushing  through  the  flood 

62 


THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

to  attack  the  enemy.  They  stood  at  arms  all  night  with- 
out fires.  Jan.  3,  breastworks  were  constructed  under 
the  fire  of  sharpshooters.  At  night  during  a  pouring 
rain  the  men  again  lay  on  their  arms.  At  2  a.m.  the 
battery  recrossed  the  river  and  at  4  a.m.  the  brigade 
forded  the  stream  and  took  position  on  the  right  where  it 
remained  until  January  6,  when  it  encamped  south  of 
Murfreesboro  after  passing  through  the  town." 

In  closing,  Colonel  Post  pays  this  tribute : 

"The  zeal  and  decision  shown  by  Lieutenants  Jones, 
Hall,  Hatch  and  Baker,  members  of  my  staff,  and  the 
intrepidity  of  my  faithful  orderly,  George  Forgel,  de- 
mand my  highest  commendation." 

"During  the  long  contest  and  notwithstanding  the 
extreme  inclemency  of  the  weather  and  the  scarcity  of 
provisions,  no  word  of  complaint  was  heard.  Officers 
and  men  seemed  alike  anxious  to  do  their  full  duty  as 
patriotic  soldiers.  In  our  advance  they  pushed  forward 
boldly  and  when  greatly  superior  numbers  were  hurled 
against  them  they  awaited  the  onset  with  the  utmost 
coolness  and  determination.  The  temporary  confusion 
which  occurred  when  they  fell  back  was  caused  to  a 
considerable  extent  by  the  large  force  of  skirmishers, 
thrown  out  to  check  the  enemy,  having  been  driven 
toward  the  left  instead  of  directly  upon  their  own  regi- 
ments. The  deliberation  and  order  with  which  the  74th 
Illinois  retired  is  especially  commended." 

The  part  played  by  Colonel  Post's  brigade,  rallied  by 
Lieutenant  Jones,  checked  the  enemy  and  gave  time  for 
General  Sheridan  to  come  to  the  rescue.  General  Mc- 
Cook's  right  wing  was  routed.  The  enemy  following  up 
attacked  Davis'  division  and  speedily  dislodged  Post's 

63 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

brigade.  At  this  critical  juncture  Sheridan,  after  sus- 
taining four  successive  attacks,  gradually  swung  his 
right  from  a  southeasterly  to  a  northwesterly  direction, 
repulsing  the  enemy  four  times,  losing  his  gallant 
General  Sill  of  his  right  and  Colonel  Roberts  of  his 
left  brigade,  met  the  advancing  enemy  and  checked  his 
movements. 

This  report  of  Brigadier  General  Philip  H.  Sheridan 
tells  the  story: 

Jan.  9.     Headquarters  3d  Div.  Right  Wing  14th 

Army  Corps  Camp  on  Stone  River,  Tenn. 
My  division  alone  and  unbroken  made  a  gallant  stand  to 
protect  the  right  flank  of  our  army,  being  all  that  remained  of 
the  right  wing.  Had  my  ammunition  held  out  I  would  not  have 
fallen  back,  although  such  were  my  orders  if  hard  pressed.  As 
it  was,  the  determined  stand  of  my  troops  gave  time  for  a 
rearrangement  of  our  lines. 

The  real  nature  of  the  battle  may  be  learned  from 
the  following  paragraph  from  a  letter  printed  in  the 
Amherst  local  paper,  written  by  one  who  escaped  alive 
from  the  fierce  fight : 

"We  were  ordered  into  the  Cedar  woods  and  formed  our 
alignment  about  fifty  yards  from  the  edge.  A  brigade  of  our 
troops  was  giving  way  before  the  terrible  fire  of  the  enemy 
and  we  were  relied  upon  to  check  the  rebels.  We  lay  down 
until  our  troops  had  all  passed  to  the  rear  and  the  enemy 
approached  to  within  a  hundred  yards.  We  arose  and  fired  and 
must  have  done  awful  execution.  That  they  damaged  us  was 
apparent.  In  fifteen  minutes  thirteen  officers  and  270  men  out 
of  575  had  fallen.  We  were  forced  to  retire  but  our  purpose 
had  been  accomplished.  The  division  had  reformed  in  our  rear 
and  the  enemy  did  not  advance  beyond  the  edge  of  the  timber. 

fi4 


THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

Our  dead  lay  four  days  upon  the  field.  I  have  been  command- 
ing Co.  E,  2d  Battalion.  Five  days  we  lay  upon  the  battlefield 
at  one  time  eating  corn  issued  to  officers  and  men  for  rations." 

Another  participant  in  this  battle  wrote  to  his  friends 
in  Amherst  describing  the  crushing  of  Rosecrans'  right 
wing  and  the  enemy's  attack  upon  the  right  flank  of  the 
center  of  the  Union  Army.  He  says  their  rations  were 
ears  of  corn  and  the  promise  of  horse  meat.  Continuing 
he  wrote:  "We  have  had  hard  times  all  along.  It  has 
rained  all  the  time  since  Friday  evening  and  we  have  not 
had  any  kind  of  shelter  and  have  had  to  lie  in  the  mud, 
half  starved,  wet,  frozen,  awake." 

The  losses  as  reported  were  severe.  The  total  killed 
and  wounded  were  8778,  including  92  officers  and  1441 
privates  killed  and  384  officers  and  6861  privates 
wounded.  Colonel  Post's  brigade  suffered  a  loss  of  161 
or  11.33  per  cent  killed  and  wounded.  Rosecrans  esti- 
mated theenemy's  forces  at  62,000  men,  including  46,000 
infantry,  1200  sharpshooters,  1800  artillery  and  13,000 
cavalry;  and  their  loss  23%  per  cent  of  the  fighting 
force.  The  Union  forces  were  42,000  and  the  loss  21 
per  cent.  The  mobile  force  of  cavalry  gave  the  enemy 
a  great  advantage  in  hurling  an  attack  with  concen- 
trated energy  at  the  weakest  points.  Only  the  de- 
terminated resistance  of  the  stalwart  Western  regiments 
and  the  genius  of  Sheridan  prevented  an  utter  rout  and 
final  defeat  of  the  Union  Army. 

By  fighting  to  the  bitter  end  the  Federal  troops  won 
the  victory  which  gave  new  courage  to  President  Lin- 
coln and  the  North.  The  following  despatches  an- 
nounced the  result  of  the  battles : 

65 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

Headquarters  Department  of  the  Cumberland 

Via  Nashville,  Tenn. 

Jan.  5,  1863. 
We  have  fought  one  of  the  greatest  battles  of  the  war  and 
are  victorious.  Our  entire  success  on  the  31st  was  prevented 
by  a  surprise  of  the  right  flank ;  but  we  have  nevertheless  beaten 
the  enemy  after  a  three  days'  battle.  They  fled  with  great 
precipitancy  on  Saturday  night.  The  last  of  their  columns  of 
cavalry  left  this  morning.  Their  loss  has  been  very  heavy. 
Generals  Rains  and  Hanson  killed.  Chalmers,  Adams  and 
Brecken ridge  are  wounded. 

(Signed)       W.  S.  Rosecrans, 

Maj.  Gen'l. 
H.  W.  Halleck, 
Gen'l  in  Chief. 

Executive  Mansion, 

Washington,  D.  C, 

Jan.  5,  1863. 
Maj.  Gen'l  W.  S.  Rosecrans, 
Murfreesboro,  Tenn. 

Your  despatch  announcing  retreat  of  the  enemy  has  just 
reached  here.  God  bless  you  and  all  with  you !  Please  tender 
to  all,  and  accept  for  yourself,  the  nation's  gratitude  for  your 
and  their  skill,  endurance  and  dauntless  courage. 

(Signed)        A.  Lincoln. 

The  part  played  by  Adjutant  Samuel  Minot  Jones 
won  repeated  citations  for  courage,  gallantry  and  effi- 
cient service.  Tie  was  always  in  the  right  place  at  the 
right  time,  the  man  for  the  crisis,  with  orders  and  with- 
out waiting  for  orders,  doing  the  one  thing  that  needed 
most  to  be  done.  In  addition  to  other  public  notices  of 
his  valor  on  record  in  official  documents  is  this  report 

66 


THE  SOLDIER  IN  THE  CIVIL  WAR 

of  W.  P.  Carlin,  Colonel  38th  Illinois  Volunteers,  com- 
manding Second  Brigade,  January  6,  1863. 

"Among  the  staff  officers  of  the  army  who  made  them- 
selves useful  in  rallying  the  scattered  men  Dr.  L.  F. 
Russell,  2d  Minn.  Battery;  Lieut.  S.  M.  Jones,  59th  111. 
Vols.;  Capt.  Thurston,  aide  camp  to  Major  Gen'l  Mc- 
Cook  and  Chaplain  Wilkins,  21st  111.  Vols.,  came  espe- 
cially under  my  observation." 

Lieutenant  S.  M.  Jones  by  his  distinguished  service 
as  Assistant  Acting  Adjutant  General  had  attracted  the 
attention  of  his  superior  officers.  A  brilliant  future 
awaited  him  and  rapid  promotion.  But  his  sensitive 
temperament  and  delicate  constitution  were  not  fitted 
for  the  horrors  of  war.  He  was  not  ambitious  for  mili- 
tary glory.  Only  patriotism  and  the  stern  imperatives 
of  duty  led  him  to  enlist  and  to  continue  for  eighteen 
months  his  arduous  tasks. 

After  the  victory  of  Stone  River  he  found  himself 
weakened  by  a  wound  in  his  right  leg,  completely  ex- 
hausted by  the  long  protracted  hardships  of  marching, 
camping,  bivouacs  and  battles,  and  his  constitution 
undermined  by  a  severe  attack  of  typhoid  fever.  He 
was  confronted  by  the  question,  Shall  I  remain  in  the 
army  an  invalid  and  a  burden  to  the  government  until 
speedy  death  shall  close  the  scene ;  or  shall  I  resign  and 
serve  my  country  best  as  a  private  citizen?  It  seemed 
wise  to  choose  the  latter  alternative,  believing  that  a 
live  servant  is  of  more  value  to  the  nation  than  a  dead 
soldier.  He  resigned  therefore  at  once.  His  resigna- 
tion was  accepted  and  he  was  honorably  discharged 
January  8,  1863,  while  his  regiment  was  still  encamped 
on  the  battlefield  of  Murfreesboro,  Tennessee. 

67 


CHAPTER  IV 
THE  MAX  OF  BUSINESS 

Samuel  Minot  Jones,  returning  to  Amherst,  sought 
rest  and  recuperation  in  his  mother's  home.  He  found 
the  town  busily  engaged  in  making  up  its  quotas  of 
soldiers.  The  glamour  of  war  had  given  place  to  stern 
reality.  The  draft  had  been  found  necessary  to  provide 
sufficient  recruits.  Those  who  could  not  go  themselves 
provided  substitutes.  Bounties  wrere  freely  offered  by 
the  town,  the  state  and  private  individuals.  Public 
meetings  were  held  and  the  recruits  were  escorted  to  the 
station  on  their  way  to  the  front.  But  Adjutant  Jones, 
no  longer  a  citizen  of  Amherst,  from  which  he  had  been 
absent  for  nearly  ten  years,  spent  his  time  quietly  rest- 
ing until  he  gained  strength  enough  for  a  trip  abroad 
where  he  might  forget  the  terrible  scenes  of  fratricidal 
strife  in  which  he  had  been  driven  by  duty  to  participate. 

As  soon  as  his  health  permitted  he  returned  to  Chi- 
cago. Although  he  never  fully  regained  the  physical 
strength  he  lost  during  his  army  service,  but  suffered 
more  or  less  during  the  remainder  of  his  life,  he  never- 
theless continued  to  do  a  man's  work  as  long  as  he 
lived.  In  1804  lie  formed  a  partnership  with  Charles  R. 
Barton,  who  had  already  begun  business  for  himself. 
The  new  firm  of  Barton  &  Jones  opened  a  lumber  yard 
near    the    Chicago    River    at    the    southeast    corner   of 

OS 


THE  MAX  OF  BUSINESS 

Lumber  and  12th  streets  and  Mr.  Jones  resided  at  523 
Wabash  Street.  This  firm  continued  to  do  business  for 
twenty-two  years,  until  the  death  of  the  senior  partner 
in  1886. 

The  story  of  the  prosperity  of  this  firm  is  told  in  a 
sketch  printed  in  "Industrial  Chicago"  in  part  as 
follows : 

"He  met  with  the  success  due  to  hard  and  intelligent 
application  to  business,  to  such  an  extent  that  the  firm 
soon  became  interested  in  the  manufacture  of  lumber  at 
various  points,  having  a  half  interest  with  the  milling 
firm  of  B.  Merrill  &  Company  at  Muskegon,  acquiring 
a  shingle  mill  at  Manistee  and  a  sawmill  at  Menominee, 
Michigan,  with  large  holdings  of  pine  lands  in  various 
portions  of  the  State  of  Michigan,  increasing  the  early 
manufacture  of  4,000,000  feet  per  annum  to  20,000,000 
and  as  high  as  30,000,000  feet  in  later  years.  The  firm 
continued  in  the  yard  business  until  1880  when  it  with- 
drew from  that  branch  of  the  trade  and  confined  itself 
wholly  to  wholesaling  by  cargo  with  office  on  the  market 
at  South  Water  and  Franklin  streets.  In  1886  Mr. 
Barton  died  and  his  son-in-law,  D.  J.  Kennedy,  became 
associated  with  Mr.  Jones,  and  the  firm  of  Jones  & 
Kennedy  have  for  several  years  past  been  engaged  in 
winding  up  the  affairs  of  the  former  house,  which  task  is 
now  happily  accomplished.  During  the  continuance  of 
the  firm  of  Barton  &  Jones  no  less  than  200,000,000 
feet  of  lumber  with  a  proportionate  quantity  of  shingles 
and  lath  was  manufactured  at  the  mills  which  were 
wholly  or  partially  owned  by  them.  In  the  winter  of 
1894,  the  business  of  the  old  firm  having  been  settled  up, 
Jones  &  Kennedy  dissolved  partnership  and  Mr.  Jones, 

69 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

who  during  his  busy  life  had  time  to  make  several  Euro- 
pean trips  in  the  interest  of  health  as  well  as  of  recrea- 
tion, decided  to  see  more  of  his  own  country  and  has 
spent  the  past  several  months  in  the  South,  visiting  the 
Pacific  coast,  storing  his  mind  with  a  better  knowledge 
of  the  resources  and  grandeur  of  his  native  land  which 
he  appreciates  the  more,  not  less,  from  his  own  personal 
sacrifices  in  its  interest,  than  from  that  pride  which 
swells  the  breast  of  every  true-born  son  of  America  as  he 
contrasts  his  own  land  with  the  world  at  large.  Mr. 
Jones,  with  ample  fortune,  now  devoted  his  time  to  its 
care,  having  retired  from  active  business.  His  firm  was 
for  many  years  a  member  of  the  Lumberman's  Ex- 
change." 

An  interesting  account  of  Mr.  Jones'  business  career 
in  Chicago  has  been  written  by  his  former  partner,  D.  J. 
Kennedy,  as  follows : 

"Mr.  Jones  came  to  Chicago  after  the  close  of  the 
Civil  War  and  went  into  the  lumber  business  as  partner 
of  Charles  R.  Barton,  my  wife's  father,  under  the  name 
of  Barton  &  Jones,  the  yard  being  on  the  west  side  of 
Chicago  River  on  12th  Street  (now  Roosevelt  Road) 
bridge.  They  manufactured  and  sold  lumber,  lath  and 
shingles.  They  bought  land  on  which  was  standing  pine 
which  they  cut  and  sawed  (or  had  sawed  for  them)  into 
merchantable  lumber. 

"Their  customers  were  country  lumber  dealers,  sash, 
door  and  blind  manufacturing  concerns,  interior  finish 
contractors,  carpenters,  etc.  Later  they  bought  stump- 
age,  that  is.  the  trees  but  not  the  land.  They  were  one 
of  the  large  firms  though  not  the  largest,  and  no  lumber 
firm  ever  in  this  city  had  a  better  reputation  for  honesty 

70 


THE  MAN  OF  BUSINESS 

and  fair  dealing  than  Barton  &  Jones.  They  were  abso- 
lutely fair  and  square  in  all  dealings  with  everyone. 

"Mr.  Barton  died  in  1886  at  which  time  Mr.  Jones 
was  too  ill  to  attend  to  business.  He  then  insisted  that  I 
take  the  business  until  he  should  be  well  enough  to  help 
look  after  it.  I  took  my  wife's  interest  and  we  con- 
tinued under  the  firm  name  of  Jones  &  Kennedy  until 
we  had  cut  nearly  all  the  standing  lumber  we  owned, 
about  1894  or  1895. 

"Barton  &  Jones  were  in  business  at  12th  Street 
bridge  at  the  time  of  the  Chicago  fire  in  1871.  The  fire 
did  not  burn  their  yard,  but  sweeping  just  north  of  them 
and  crossing  the  river  it  destroyed  the  main  business 
part  of  the  city  and  the  eastern  part  of  the  north  side. 
They  had  many  men  and  managed  to  save  their  lumber 
by  hiring  fire  engines  outside  the  city  to  pump  water 
from  the  river. 

"In  1886,  when  I  was  in  the  business,  we  owned  a  con- 
trolling interest  in  a  sawmill  at  Menominee,  Michigan, 
on  the  Menominee  River,  just  across  from  Marinette, 
Wisconsin.  We  contracted  with  loggers  to  cut  down  the 
trees  in  winter  and  cut  them  up  into  logs  and  draw  them 
over  snow  or  ice  roads  to  the  banks  of  Menominee  or 
its  branches  or  lakes  tributary  to  it.  We  had  estimators 
at  each  camp  (usually  eight  or  ten  camps)  who  sent  us 
each  Saturday  an  estimate  of  the  amount  of  feet  of  logs 
cut  during  that  week,  and  we  paid  the  loggers,  using  that 
estimate  as  a  basis. 

"About  the  first  week  in  March  of  each  year  we  took 
from  Chicago  one  or  more  lumber  buyers  with  us  and 
went  from  camp  to  camp,  looking  at  the  logs  piled  up 
on  the  log  rolls  and  estimating  the  quality  of  lumber 

71 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

that  could  be  sawed  from  the  logs,  and  settled  on  a  price 
to  be  paid  for  the  lumber  including  everything  above  the 
grade  of  mill  cull.  A  mill  cull  is  a  piece  too  poor  in 
quality  to  pay  to  ship.  A  shipping  cull  is  poor  quality 
but  of  enough  value  to  pay  the  freight  and  handling. 

"In  the  sj)ring,  when  the  ice  melted,  the  logs  in  the 
lake  and  on  the  river  banks  were  floated  by  the  Drive 
Company  at  so  much  per  thousand  feet  to  the  mill  and 
put  into  the  mill  booms,  storage  places,  and  there  sawed 
during  the  summer  into  lumber  and  piled  on  our  docks 
and  in  the  yard.  Each  Saturday  the  mill  sent  us  a 
statement  of  the  amount  sawed  that  week.  We  sent  a 
bill  to  the  purchaser  together  with  a  sixty-day  note 
which  the  purchaser  signed  and  returned  to  us  and  which 
we  deposited  in  the  bank  for  collection.  We  also  paid 
the  mill  for  sawing,  using  these  weekly  statements  as  a 
basis.  We  finally  sold  our  interest  in  the  mill  and  our 
remaining  standing  lumber  to  the  Soper  Lumber  Com- 
pany of  Chicago.  Mr.  Jones  and  I  bought  and  cut  two 
rather  small  tracts  after  that,  but  he  was  ready  to  retire 
from  the  lumber  business.  Though  I  wanted  to  con- 
tinue, I  felt  that  I  had  not  sufficient  experience  to  go  on 
alone.  He  was  a  good  judge  of  timber  and  of  lumber, 
a  good  business  man  and  was  not  'close.1  He  was  care- 
ful, but  'hadn't  a  mean  hair  in  his  head.'  I  consider  him 
one  of  the  cleanest,  squarest  men  I  ever  met.  His  word 
was  absolutely  good  and  his  conduct  in  business  a 
model." 

Samuel  Minot  Jones  was  the  man  for  the  emergency 
in  the  business  world  as  well  as  in  the  battlefields  of  the 
war  for  the  Union.  If  lie  fought  Indians  at  Sugar 
Creek  and  rallied  panic-stricken  soldiers  at  Stone  River, 


THE  MAN  OF  BUSINESS 

he  found  need  of  a  soldier's  courage  and  a  patriot's  en- 
durance in  his  fight  with  the  conflagration  that  was  de- 
vouring the  lives  and  the  property  of  the  great  city  on 
the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan. 

The  fire,  starting  from  a  lantern  in  a  stable  at  9  p.m. 
Sunday,  October  8,  1871,  spread  through  the  lumber 
district  on  the  west  side,  crossed  the  river  and  burned 
over  2024  acres,  3%  square  miles  of  business  blocks  and 
dwelling  houses.  The  flames  burned  their  way  for  2*4 
miles  in  an  air  line  in  6%  hours.  The  value  of  property 
destroyed  was  estimated  at  $187,000,000  and  300  lives 
were  lost.  People  fled  to  the  lake  shore  to  escape  the 
flames.  Thousands  of  men,  women  and  children  fled 
south  and  west  away  from  the  roaring  flames,  conveying 
their  goods  in  every  kind  of  vehicles,  paying  extortionate 
prices  for  them.  They  spoke  many  different  languages. 
Wooden  pavements  burning  freely  carried  the  fire  in  a 
stream.    Brick  walls  burned  and  granite  blocks  melted. 

The  panic  brought  to  the  front  gangs  of  the  under- 
world bent  on  plunder.  Some  even  tried  to  extend  the 
disaster.  Two  caught  in  the  act  of  firing  houses  on  the 
west  side  were  arrested  and  immediately  hung  to  lamp 
posts,  one  on  12th  Street  near  Barton  &  Jones'  lumber 
yard,  and  the  other  three  miles  away  on  the  north  side. 
This  summary  action  checked  the  thieves  and  murderers. 
The  police  department  was  strengthened  by  1500  addi- 
tional deputies.  General  Sheridan  came  to  the  rescue 
with  500  veteran  soldiers.  In  making  arrests  forty-one 
persons  were  shot.  Out  of  the  ruins  ninety  bodies  were 
recovered.  Fire  on  the  south  side  was  checked  on  Mon- 
day by  the  use  of  gunpowder.  On  the  north  side  the  fire 
burned   its   way   almost   to   the   prairie   before   it   was 

73 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

stopped  after  twenty-seven  hours,  when  it  began  to  rain. 
The  thousands  of  homeless  people  found  refuge  in 
schoolhouses  and  churches  which  had  been  saved.  Others 
were  obliged  to  camp  by  the  wayside  exposed  to  rain 
and  cold. 

In  the  midst  of  all  this  terror  Mr.  Jones  never  lost  his 
courage  or  his  presence  of  mind.  His  lumber  yard  must 
be  saved,  not  only  because  it  was  his  property,  but  espe- 
cially because  every  foot  of  lumber  would  be  at  once 
needed  to  repair  buildings  and  provide  shelter  for  the 
homeless  people.  He  did  the  one  most  essential  thing. 
He  sent  out  into  the  country  and  procured  two  fire 
engines  and  set  his  force  of  men  pumping  water  from 
the  river  and  throwing  it  in  continuous  streams  upon  the 
piles  of  dry  lumber.  He  succeeded  in  saving  the  yard. 
Busy  days  followed  when  his  depleted  stock  was  re- 
plenished by  shipments  from  his  sources  of  supply  in  his 
lumber  camps  and  mills  in  the  northern  forests. 

He  was  a  leader  of  men.  He  knew  human  nature  and 
drew  to  himself  men  whom  he  could  safely  trust.  No 
partnership  papers  were  signed  either  with  Mr.  Barton 
or  with  Mr.  Kennedy  to  guard  the  rights  or  to  secure 
the  performance  of  necessary  work.  His  word  was  as 
good  as  a  bond  and  so  he  esteemed  his  partners  to  be 
men  of  honor  and  honesty:  nor  was  he  disappointed. 
His  wealth  was  acquired  by  efficient  work  for  private 
and  public  welfare. 

The  firm  of  Jones  &  Kennedy  was  dissolved  in  the 
winter  of  1894  and  Mr.  Jones  retired  from  the  lumber 
business  at  the  age  of  fifty-eight  after  thirty  years  of 
strenuous  activity  in  the  city  and  in  the  forests.  He  did 
not,  however,  spend  his  time  in  idleness.    He  found  it  no 

74 


THE  MAN  OF  BUSINESS 

easy  task  to  keep  the  capital  he  had  saved  and  to  in- 
crease it.  When  a  Chicago  man  learned  that  S.  M. 
Jones  had  made  several  hundreds  of  thousands  of  dollars 
in  the  city  and  left  with  it  for  the  East  he  exclaimed, 
"How  did  he  get  away  with  it?"  He  got  away  with  it 
by  the  same  method  he  used  in  getting  it,  by  giving 
thought  and  good  judgment  to  the  employment  of  his 
time  and  his  money  for  enterprises  designed  to  promote 
the  public  good.  His  name  appears  in  the  Chicago  di- 
rectory of  1895,  "Jones,  S.  Minot,  Capitalist,  100 
Washington  Street."  He  invested  his  capital  in  rail- 
road stocks,  public  service  bonds,  Chicago  Telephone 
Company,  Edison  stock  and  in  other  diversified  securi- 
ties. He  was  no  gambler  in  stocks,  but  was  a  cautious 
investor.  His  travels,  wide  acquaintance  with  business 
men  and  with  resources  and  demands  of  the  great  West, 
and  his  public  spirit  enabled  him  to  invest  his  capital 
securely,  profitably  and  for  the  common  good. 

Leaving  Chicago  he  spent  the  last  years  of  his  life  in 
the  East,  in  Amherst,  Philadelphia,  Washington,  D.  C, 
Morristown,  New  Jersey,  and  Easthampton,  Long 
Island,  in  close  connection  with  New  York  City. 
Many  men  who  have  succeeded  in  the  West  have  miser- 
ably failed  when  they  have  left  their  early  environment 
and  gone  to  New  York  City  with  the  expectation  of 
doubling  their  fortunes.  But  Mr.  Jones  was  equal  to 
the  demands  made  upon  him  in  the  East  and  succeeded 
in  keeping  his  fortune  and  increasing  it,  and  at  the  same 
time  in  winning  the  respect  and  confidence  of  the  busi- 
ness men  with  whom  he  was  associated. 

He  was  for  several  years  a  member  of  the  board  of 
directors  of  the  Morristown  Trust  Company,  to  which 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

he  was  elected  January  10,  1909.  The  following  tribute, 
taken  from  the  records  of  this  Trust  Company,  shows 
that  his  genius  for  business  conducted  for  the  good  of 
others  continued  as  long  as  life  itself: 

"The  Board  of  Directors  of  the  Morristown  Trust 
Company  has  learned  with  deep  sorrow  of  the  death  of 
their  former  associate,  S.  Minot  Jones,  and  here  record 
upon  the  minutes  of  the  Company  our  respect  and  ad- 
miration for  the  sterling  qualities  of  his  nature,  wisdom 
of  his  counsel,  the  generous  kindness,  the  genial  disposi- 
tion and  sterling  worth  which,  with  his  kind  thoughtful- 
ness  for  others,  have  endeared  him  to  us  and  to  all  who 
know  him. 

"Mr.  Jones  was  associated  with  this  Company  little 
more  than  three  and  one  half  years,  but  during  that 
time  his  constant  and  careful  attention  to  the  trust  com- 
mitted to  him  was  of  great  benefit  to  all  interested,  and 
proved  the  value  of  his  past  experience  and  keen 
intelligence." 


CHAPTER  V 
PRIVATE  LIFE 

Samuel  Minot  Jones  in  his  private  life  and  in  society 
was  admired,  respected,  trusted  and  loved.  His  mother 
was  the  constant  object  of  his  filial  love  and  service.  He 
would  not  be  a  burden  to  her  even  to  secure  a  college 
education  for  which  he  was  well  fitted,  but  at  once  after 
his  father's  death  he  began  to  support  himself  and  to 
work  for  the  welfare  of  his  widowed  mother  and  his 
young  sister  Augusta.  Professor  Henry  M.  Tyler  of 
Smith  College,  writing  of  Mr.  Jones,  says  in  one  of  his 
letters,  "My  mother  (Mrs.  W.  S.  Tyler  of  Amherst) 
told  me  that  his  mother  (Mrs.  Thomas  Jones)  spoke  to 
her  of  the  comfort  and  help  which  he  had  given  her  in 
her  advancing  years."  Professor  John  W.  Burgess  of 
Columbia  University,  Xew  York  City,  writes:  "Samuel 
Minot  Jones  was  a  very  devoted  son  and  he  adored  his 
widowed  mother.  He  came  constantly  to  Amherst  from 
Chicago  to  visit  her  and  would  not  marry  so  long  as 
there  was  any  likelihood  of  his  having  to  support  her. 
He  was  always  contributing  to  her  comfort."  When  his 
sister,  Mrs.  Augusta  Thayer  Jones  Burgess,  the  wife 
of  Professor  J.  W.  Burgess,  was  ill  in  Switzerland,  Mr. 
Jones  left  his  business  in  Chicago  and  went  at  once  to 
her  relief. 

His  kindness  of  heart  is  shown  by  the  following  letter, 

77 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

written  to  his  brother  Thomas  and  his  wife  on  the  occa- 
sion of  the  death  of  their  daughter,  Augusta  Thayer 
Jones,  named  for  her  aunt : 

Chicago,  July  13,  1872. 
My  Dear  Brother  and  Sister: 

May  God  bless  and  give  you  strength  to  bear  up  under  the 
great  affliction  which  in  his  infinite  mercy  he  has  seen  fit  to 
visit  upon  you. 

The  dear  little  girl  quite  won  my  heart  during  my  visit  last 
winter  and  I  had  looked  forward  with  pleasure  to  the  time  when 
I  had  hoped  to  be  able  to  have  done  something  that  would  have 
been  not  only  of  benefit  to  her  but  would  also  have  shown  my 
love  for  you.  Would  that  I  could  find  words  to  express  my 
feelings  of  sympathy  as  well  as  of  courage  to  you  to  bear  up 
under  what  must  seem  to  you  an  overwhelming  burden  of  grief. 
Again  I  say,  that  God  may  comfort  you  is  the  sincere  and 
heartfelt  prayer  of  your  attached  brother, 

S.  M.  Jones. 

At  the  time  of  his  mother's  death  lie  wrote  to  this  same 
brother: 

Amherst,  January  15,  1879. 
My  Dear  Tom : 

I  presume  you  are  prepared  for  the  very  sad  news  of 
Mother's  death.  I  cannot  tell  you  how  grieved  I  am  that  I  did 
not  get  here  in  time  to  see  her  alive.  She  died  while  I  was  on 
the  road.  On  Monday  we  laid  her  in  the  tomb  where  she  now 
sleeps  in  the  fullness  of  the  reward  which  our  faith  tells  us  is 
the  future  of  a  well  spent  life.  She  was  a  good  mother  to  us 
all  and  you  little  know,  Tom.  how  much  she  thought  of  you 
and  your  welfare.  She  felt  you  were  a  good  son  and  did  all 
you  could  to  make  her  life  one  of  happiness.  It  would  have 
been   a  great   satisfaction  for  her  to  have  seen  you  and   yours. 

78 


PRIVATE  LIFE 

The  last  letter  she  wrote  me  was  that  she  wanted  you  to  make 
her  a  visit.     I  wish  you  might  have  been  here  to  the  funeral,  but 

it  was  impossible,  so  we  did  not  send  you  the  telegram 

Mary  unites  with  me  in  much  love  to  you  and  Minerva. 

Ever  yours, 

Sam. 

In  society  Mr.  Jones  was  a  man  of  attractive  and 
winning  personality.  The  writer  in  "Industrial  Chi- 
cago" says:  "He,  being  of  a  highly  social  nature,  while 
remaining  a  bachelor,  has  held  membership  in  various 
social  clubs,  including  the  Union,  Washington  Park  and 
other  clubs  of  Chicago,  and  the  Union  and  New  York 
clubs  of  Xew  York  City.  Of  a  genial  nature  his  society- 
Is  sought  by  his  friends,  and  few  have  a  happier  faculty 
of  winning  and  holding  valuable  friendships." 

His  business  partner,  David  J.  Kennedy  of  Chicago, 
says:  "He  belonged  to  the  Chicago  Club.  John  Crerar, 
who  gave  the  Crerar  Library  to  Chicago,  and  Hunting- 
ton W.  Jackson  were  his  cronies." 

He  was  a  member  also  of  the  Morristown  Field  Club 
and  of  the  Morris  County  Golf  Club  in  Xew  Jersey. 

His  brother-in-law,  Professor  J.  W.  Burgess,  writes: 
"As  to  the  character  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones  I  can 
truthfully  say  that  he  was  one  of  the  most  admirable  of 
men.  He  was  very  handsome  in  person,  very  intelligent, 
brilliant  and  vivacious,  very  upright  and  just  in  char- 
acter, exceedingly  generous  and  charitable.  He  had 
sound  business  judgment  and  was  a  devoted  citizen  to 

his  country He  was  a  close  friend  of  Grant  and 

Sherman  and  Rosecrans,  but  especially  of  Sheridan. 
The   country   has   never   produced    a    finer   man   than 

79 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

Samuel  Minot  Jones.  His  character  was  more  than 
fine.     It  was  exquisite." 

Mr.  Jones  was  a  friend  also  of  Robert  Lincoln,  son  of 
President  Lincoln,  and  of  Admiral  Dewey.  He  fre- 
quently met  Dewey  in  Professor  Burgess'  summer  home 
in  Montpelier,  Vermont.  One  day,  previous  to  the 
Spanish-American  war,  after  these  three  friends  had 
been  recalling  their  reminiscences  of  the  Civil  War, 
Dewey  suddenly  remarked,  "They  will  be  making  heroes 
of  us  yet!"  The  coming  admiral  whose  exploits  at 
Manila  Bay  made  the  people  idolize  him,  spoke  better 
than  he  then  knew. 

Having  retired  from  active  business  with  a  compe- 
tence, having  cared  for  his  mother  and  his  sister  as  long 
as  they  needed  his  assistance,  and  having  been  for  many 
years  the  joy  of  the  homes  of  many  friends,  the  time 
came  at  last  when  his  long  cherished  desire  to  have  a 
home  of  his  own  was  realized. 

March  16,  1898,  at  Overbrook,  Pennsylvania,  a 
suburb  of  Philadelphia,  he  was  married  by  Reverend 
Thomas  A.  Hoyt,  D.D.,  to  Miss  Harriet  Watson 
Stenger,  the  daughter  of  William  S.  and  Helen  M. 
Stenger.  Her  father  was  a  lawyer  of  note  with  whom 
Mr.  Jones  had  been  associated  in  business.  She  was  a 
beautiful  and  gracious  young  woman  for  whom  her  hus- 
band, after  residing  for  a  time  in  Washington,  D.  C, 
made  a  beautiful  home  in  Morristown,  New  Jersey,  in 
addition  to  their  summer  residence  at  Easthampton, 
Long  Island,  New  York.  It  was  his  joy  to  provide  her 
with  all  that  her  heart  could  wish. 

Morristown  is  a  beautiful  suburb  of  New  York  City, 
composed   of  numerous  elegant   residences   of  wealthy 

80 


PRIVATE  LIFE 

people  whose  taste  and  health  led  them  to  escape  from 
the  crowded  metropolis  to  the  open  country.  The  town 
on  a  high  ridge  of  land  commands  extensive  views  and 
played  an  important  part  in  the  war  of  the  Revolution. 
The  Jones  house  was  a  fine  colonial  mansion,  ample, 
open  to  fresh  air  and  sunlight,  in  the  midst  of  lawns 
shaded  by  maples,  and  commanding  a  beautiful  outlook. 
A  broad  hall  from  the  entrance  on  the  front  portico  ran 
through  the  house  to  the  stairway,  dividing  the  reception 
room  from  the  library.  A  large  porch  on  the  south  was 
connected  with  the  library.  Everything  about  the  home 
was  in  harmony  with  the  character  of  the  man,  devoid 
of  extravagance,  nothing  of  pretense,  all  things  real  and 
genuine.  The  library  was  furnished  with  study  tables, 
books  carefully  selected,  walls  hung  with  pictures,  a 
homelike,  comfortable  place,  a  great  contrast  to  the  little 
wooden  office  in  the  midst  of  piles  of  lumber  in  Chicago 
where  Professor  Henry  M.  Tyler  found  Mr.  Jones 
reading  with  much  enjoyment  Charles  Dudley  Warner's 
"My  Summer  in  a  Garden." 

The  character  of  Samuel  Minot  Jones  is  to  be 
learned  not  only  from  his  valor  on  the  battlefield,  from 
his  work  in  the  forests  of  Michigan  and  in  the  lumber 
yard  rescued  from  the  Chicago  conflagration,  and  from 
his  career  as  a  capitalist,  but  also  from  the  books  he  chose 
for  his  hours  of  leisure  and  for  his  relief  amid  the  strain 
of  his  daily  business  toil.  While  his  body  was  in  the 
dust,  heat  and  turmoil  of  a  city  lumber  yard,  his  soul, 
wafted  on  the  wings  of  imagination,  delighted  itself  and 
gained  recreation  and  new  vigor  by  visualizing  the 
flower  beds  and  vegetable  plots  and  the  shrubbery  of  the 

81 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

Hartford  garden  and  by  listening  to  the  humorous  talk 
of  the  author  and  chuckling  at  his  wit. 

On  the  shelves  of  his  private  library  were  found  stand- 
ard works  of  English  and  American  literature,  poetry, 
prose,  history,  fiction,  biography,  science  and  religion. 
Laurence  Sterne,  Fielding,  Tennyson,  Thackeray, 
George  Eliot,  Kingsley,  Walter  Scott,  were  his  favorite 
English  authors.  Longfellow,  Lowell,  Hawthorne, 
Washington  Irving,  Motley,  Parkman,  Julia  Ward 
Howe,  were  his  American  friends.  The  volumes  are 
beautifully  bound,  the  print  legible  and  the  illustrations 
of  the  best.  He  loved  to  see  his  friends — his  books  were 
among  his  friends — dressed  becomingly,  not  decked  with 
meretricious  ornaments,  but  in  a  garb  suited  to  their 
real  merit.  His  books  explain  in  large  measure  his  suc- 
cess as  a  soldier,  a  lumber  merchant,  a  financier  and  a 
man  of  leisure.  His  guide  books  show  that  his  extensive 
travels  in  Italy,  throughout  Europe,  in  Norway,  in 
Great  Britain  and  in  America  enriched  and  broadened 
his  mind  and  gave  him  an  insight  into  the  secrets  of 
nature  and  human  nature  and  an  appreciation  of  the 
best  things  in  art. 

Mr.  John  Crerar,  the  donor  of  The  John  Crerar 
Library  to  the  city  of  Chicago,  was  one  of  the  personal 
friends  of  Mr.  Jones.  His  example,  therefore,  must 
have  influenced  the  lumber  merchant,  when  he  came  to 
consider  the  question  how  best  to  invest  his  fortune  of 
$061,746  for  the  benefit  of  the  boys  and  business  men 
of  Amherst,  and  must  have  convinced  him  that  he  would 
make  no  mistake  in  providing  for  them  a  library  of  the 
best  books  filled  with  the  best  thoughts  and  the  most 
beautiful  sentiments  and  the  most  inspiring  incentives  to 

82 


Mil*.       II 


Sii\(,i:i    ,lo\i:s    \\n    Son 


PRIVATE  LIFE 

vigorous  action,  and  in  endowing  it  liberally,  that  as  an 
institution  it  should  during  the  coming  generation  do  for 
its  patrons  as  much  as,  and  more  than,  his  own  library 
had  done  for  himself.  The  Morristown  home  had  many 
things  to  remind  its  owner  of  his  boyhood  home  with  his 
mother  in  Amherst.  The  summer  home  at  the  seashore 
at  Easthampton  was  an  unpretentious  cottage  near  that 
of  John  Drew,  the  famous  actor,  with  whom  Mr.  Jones 
enjoyed  pleasant  converse.  Here  he  found  recreation 
in  afternoon  walks,  fishing  and  boating. 

His  life  in  Morristown  was  by  no  means  one  of  idle- 
ness. To  the  last  he  was  interested  in  the  public  welfare 
and  in  the  worship  and  work  of  St.  Peter's  Episcopal 
Church.  His  wife  joined  him  in  private  charities. 
While  not  a  college  graduate,  she  received  a  good  edu- 
cation in  her  father's  home  from  private  tutors. 

Their  only  child,  Minot  Jones,  was  born  June  21, 
1899,  at  Atlantic  City,  New  Jersey.  During  the  next 
eight  years  Mr.  Jones  devoted  himself  to  the  care  of  his 
family,  providing  his  wife  and  son  with  everything  that 
his  loving  care  could  secure.  The  mother,  however, 
always  having  a  frail  and  delicate  constitution,  soon 
began  to  decline.  In  spite  of  all  that  medical  science 
could  do  for  her,  after  protracted  suffering  she  died 
September  22,  1907. 

The  loss  of  his  wife  was  a  severe  trial  of  his  faith, 
bringing  disappointment  to  his  plans  for  the  home  life 
he  so  dearly  loved.  But  his  religious  nature,  revealed 
in  his  letters  at  the  time  of  the  death  of  his  little  niece 
Augusta  and  of  his  mother,  supported  him  in  this  hour 
of  great  sorrow.  The  following  letter  from  his  pastor, 
the  Reverend  Philemon  F.  Sturges,  rector  of  St.  Peter's 

83 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

Church  in  Morristown,  shows  the  man  steadfast  in 
adversity : 

"Mr.  Jones  came  to  Morristown  and  settled  in  the 
house  on  Miller  Road,  and  I  remember  vividly  how 
quickly  he  wron  the  affection  of  that  intensely  conserva- 
tive little  neighborhood  and  became  part  of  it.  He  was 
a  very  regular  attendant  at  the  services  of  St.  Peter's 
Church,  and  I  think  every  one  felt  the  force  of  the 
serenity  and  buoyancy  of  his  Christian  character  which 
illustrated  in  a  peculiar  way  the  truth  of  the  old  proverb, 
'Those  whom  the  gods  love  are  young  until  they  die.' 

"I  first  came  into  intimate  contact  with  him  at  the 
time  of  Mrs.  Jones'  death  and  remember  very  vividly 
my  impression  of  the  man  at  the  time  with  his  very  clear 
and  very  calm  assurance  of  immortality  deepening  at 
the  end  of  a  very  long  life,  wishing  for  the  sake  of  their 
boy  that  he  might  have  gone  and  Mrs.  Jones  had  been 
left  to  care  for  Minot." 

Rector  Sturges  closes  with  a  reference  to  the  "very 
lovable  personality  with  its  suggestion  of  light  and  peace 
at  the  eventide  of  a  long  and  full  experience  of  life" 
which  was  manifest  in  the  daily  conduct  of  Mr.  Jones. 

The  habit  of  attending  church,  formed  during  his  boy- 
hood in  Amherst,  was  dominant  in  Morristown.  His 
coachman  recalls  this  incident.  When  a  party  of  visitors 
arrived  on  Sunday,  he  sent  his  coachman  to  meet  them 
and  give  them  the  message  that  he  would  welcome  them 
on  his  return  from  church. 

After  the  death  of  his  wife  Mr.  Jones  devoted  himself 
to  the  care  of  his  son,  to  whom  was  given  the  family 
name  of  Minot,  so  distinguished  among  New  England 
patriots.     He  loved  the  boy  and  felt  the  responsibility 

84 


M  IN.»  I      ,I(>M> 


PRIVATE  LIFE 

for  his  education  and  training.  While  he  was  ready  to 
provide  him  with  all  that  his  fortune  could  buy  for  the 
young  man,  he  was  careful  that  the  boy  should  not  be 
handicapped  by  the  temptations  which  spring  from  the 
love  of  money,  the  root  of  all  kinds  of  evil.  He  believed 
in  work,  hard  work,  wisely  directed.  He  himself  was 
brought  up  by  his  Yankee  father  to  work,  and  to  his 
work  from  his  childhood  he  attributed  the  success  he  had 
won.  His  son  Minot  was  provided  with  the  best  of  tutors 
and  sent  to  the  best  schools,  to  Thacher's  School  for 
Boys,  to  the  Taft  School  and  to  the  Ojai  School  in  Cali- 
fornia. With  the  aid  of  his  housekeeper,  Miss  Jennie 
Canfield,  who  nursed  his  wife  in  her  sickness,  and  by  the 
help  of  John  Mulcahy,  his  faithful  coachman,  he  con- 
tinued to  maintain  his  homes  in  Morristown  and  in  East- 
hampton.  He  sought  recreation  at  the  Golf  Club  and 
the  Field  Club  and  in  driving  and  walking  about  the 
country.  As  director  of  the  Morristown  Trust  Com- 
pany, he  found  opportunity  to  serve  others  by  wise 
counsel  and  generous  kindness.  But  his  heart,  like  that 
of  his  father,  grew  weaker  and  weaker  so  that  he  was 
obliged  to  favor  it  continually.  He  found  that  his  daily 
walk  in  the  open  air  fatigued  him  and  must  be  shortened. 
Premonitions  of  the  end  led  him  on  May  2,  1912,  to  add 
the  last  codicil  to  his  will.  Finally  he  closed  his  East- 
hampton  house  September  1,  1912,  and  hastened  back 
to  Morristown.  Six  weeks  after  his  return  from  the 
seashore,  at  1.30  a.m.  on  Thursday,  October  10,  1912, 
his  heart  failed  and  his  useful  life  of  seventy-six  years 
ended. 

Simple  funeral  services  were  held  in  the  Morristown 
home,  conducted  by  Reverend  Philemon  F.   Sturges, 

85 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

the  rector  of  St.  Peter's  Church,  assisted  by  Reverend 
Oscar  Presdor,  rector  of  St.  Luke's  Church  at  East- 
hampton,  Xew  York,  his  summer  residence.  The  church 
quartet,  directed  by  the  choirmaster,  sang  "I  heard  a 
voice  from  Heaven"  and  "Peace,  Perfect  Peace."  The 
burial  was  in  Evergreen  Cemetery,  Morristown,  in  the 
family  lot  where  he  had  laid  his  wife,  Harriet  Stenger 
Jones,  to  rest  beneath  a  beautiful  monument,  and  where 
later  his  son,  Minot,  was  also  to  be  buried.  Many  of 
his  neighbors  and  representatives  of  Morristown  or- 
ganizations attended  the  services  and  sent  beautiful 
floral  tributes. 


86 


CHAPTER  VI 
THE  JOXES  LIBRARY 

"Set  thy  house  in  order,  for  thou  shalt  die  and  not 
live,"  was  a  wise  saying  of  an  old  prophet  whose  wisdom 
commended  itself  to  Samuel  Minot  Jones  and  led  him 
to  devote  much  time  and  attention  to  the  making  of  his 
will.  It  was  drawn  up  and  dated  Washington,  D.  C, 
August  12,  1905.  Feeling  a  due  sense  of  responsibility 
in  the  disposal  of  his  property  that  had  been  entrusted 
by  Providence  to  his  stewardship,  he  began;  "In  the 
name  of  God,  amen,  I,  Samuel  Minot  Jones  of  the  city 
of  Washington,  District  of  Columbia,  being  of  sound 
mind  and  memory,  do  make,  publish  and  declare  this  my 
last  will  and  testament:"  There  follow  twenty-two  folio 
pages  of  legal  cap,  typewritten,  including  four  codicils 
which  were  added  from  time  to  time  to  meet  changed 
conditions,  the  last  being  dated  May  2,  1912. 

The  original  will  left  the  bulk  of  his  fortune  to  be 
divided,  one-half  to  his  wife,  Harriet  Stenger  Jones, 
and  one-half  to  his  son,  Minot  Jones.  The  son's  share 
was  placed  in  care  of  trust  companies  so  that  he  should 
have  what  was  needed  for  his  support  and  education 
during  his  minority,  and  should  receive  one-third  of  his 
portion  upon  attaining  the  age  of  twenty-one  years, 
together  with  the  annual  interest  of  the  remainder,  and 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

upon  reaching  thirty  years  of  age  should  then  receive  the 
other  two-thirds. 

But  in  case  no  child  of  his  should  attain  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years,  then  the  share  allotted  to  such  an 
heir  should  be  given  for  a  free  public  library  in  the  town 
of  Amherst,  Massachusetts,  to  be  called  "The  Jones 
Library." 

After  the  death  of  Mrs.  Jones  he  disposed  of  her 
share  for  the  further  benefit  of  his  son,  Minot.  Roswell 
M.  Field  was  appointed  his  guardian.  A  legacy  of 
$.5000  was  left  to  his  housekeeper,  Miss  Jennie  F.  Can- 
field,  and  to  his  coachman,  John  Mulcahy,  $2000.  The 
final  provisions  of  the  will,  in  case  his  son  should  die 
before  the  age  of  twenty-one  years,  gave  the  entire 
residue  of  the  estate  to  The  Jones  Library  that  should  be 
incorporated  according  to  the  laws  of  Massachusetts 
with  George  Harris,  John  M.  Tyler  and  George  Cutler, 
Jr.,  as  trustees,  and  directed  that  any  vacancy  on  the 
board  of  trustees  shall  be  filled  by  vote  of  the  town  of 
Amherst  at  the  annual  town  meeting.  The  trustees 
were  directed  in  due  time  to  purchase  a  lot  and  erect 
thereon  a  fireproof  building,  leaving  not  less  than 
$100,000  as  a  permanent  fund  to  be  put  at  interest  and 
the  income  to  be  expended  in  the  purchase  of  books  and 
the  maintenance  of  the  library. 

The  following  bequest  shows  his  regard  for  the  church 
and  his  love  for  his  mother:  "I  give  and  bequeath  to 
Grace  Church,  of  Amherst,  Massachusetts,  the  sum  of 
one  thousand  dollars  ($1000)  absolutely.  I  do  this  in 
memory  of  my  mother  to  whom  said  Grace  Church  of 
.Amherst  was  very  dear."  He  bequeathed  a  similar  sum 
to  St.  Luke's  Church  in  Easthampton,  New  York,  but 


THE  JONES  LIBRARY 

paid  it  before  his  death  so  that  this  bequest  was  revoked. 
For  St.  Peter's  Church  in  Morristown  he  contributed 
from  time  to  time  during  his  life. 

Minot  Jones  after  his  father's  death  continued  his 
education,  and  for  the  maintenance  of  the  home  in 
Morristown  and  for  his  personal  expenses  an  abundant 
provision  was  made.  He  became  interested  in  automo- 
biles and  when  called  to  the  service  enlisted  as  a  private 
in  Company  C,  305th  Battalion,  United  States  Tank 
Corps,  at  Camp  Polk,  Raleigh,  North  Carolina.  But 
his  constitution  inherited  from  his  mother  was  never 
strong  and  was  poorly  adapted  to  the  severe  training  of 
military  service.  Attacked  by  the  prevalent  influenza 
he  was  sent  to  Base  Hospital  Number  12  at  Hilt- 
more,  Asheville,  North  Carolina.  Pneumonia  followed 
influenza  and  resulted  in  his  death  December  16,  1918. 
He  was  privately  confirmed  September  16,  1918,  three 
months  before  his  death.  His  body  was  brought  to 
Morristown  and  buried  in  the  cemetery  where  a  stately 
granite  shaft  marks  the  family  burial  plot  in  which  his 
father  and  mother  lay  side  by  side  awaiting  his  coming. 
His  friends  received  a  beautiful  certificate  signed  by 
President  Woodrow  Wilson,  testifying  to  the  fact  that 
"Minot  Jones,  Private,  Company  C,  United  States 
Tank  Corps,  served  with  honor  in  the  World  War  and 
died  in  the  service  of  his  country."  Above  this  inscrip- 
tion is  a  significant  picture  entitled  "Columbia  Gives 
to  her  Son  the  Accolade  of  the  New  Chivalry  of 
Humanity." 

Samuel  Minot  Jones  was  a  good  judge  of  lumber. 
He  could  estimate  the  value  of  growing  forest  trees,  the 
worth  of  a  log  in  the  woods,  at  the  mill  and  in  his  Chi- 

89 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

cago  yard  when  sawed  into  merchantable  boards,  lath 
and  shingles.  He  was  also  a  student  of  human  nature 
and  wise  in  his  choice  of  friends.  He  knew  whom  to 
trust,  and  trustworthy  men  he  associated  with  himself  in 
business  and  trusted  them  implicitly  without  bonds  and 
without  suspicion.  His  partners  were  bound  by  no  legal 
documents.  Their  word  was  sufficient.  His  own  honor 
was  unsullied  and  in  his  presence  every  man  showed  the 
best  that  was  in  him. 

He  loved  the  young  and  all  children  were  dear  to  him. 
His  hope  was  that  his  son  would  live  and  with  every 
advantage  at  his  command  would  embody  and  perpetu- 
ate the  valor,  patriotism  and  distinguished  service  of  his 
New  England  ancestors.  But  knowing  the  uncertainty 
of  human  life,  he  made  a  wise  provision  for  the  future. 
Should  his  own  boy  die  before  attaining  his  majority 
and  without  an  heir,  it  was  decided  that  the  fortune 
should  be  invested  for  the  benefit  of  the  people  of  Am- 
herst and  of  their  boys  and  girls. 

In  all  his  travels  north,  south,  east  and  west,  in  his 
own  and  in  foreign  lands  he  never  forgot  Amherst,  the 
home  of  his  boyhood,  where  from  infancy  to  young  man- 
hood lie  received  his  education  and  training  in  his  home, 
his  school  and  his  church;  he  could  not  forget  his  hills  and 
valleys,  his  friendships,  the  beautiful  town  where  his 
father  and  his  beloved  mother  lived  and  worked  and 
died  and  were  buried. 

He  came  back  to  Amherst  and  conferred  with  George 
Cutler,  who  employed  him  when  a  boy,  and  with  George 
Cutler,  Jr.,  whom  he  took  with  him  as  a  companion  when 
traveling  in  the  mountains  or  on  the  sea,  and  he  finally 
decided  that  the  town  of  Amherst,  the  people  of  Am- 

90 


ISoAH  l>    HI       I'm  -  II  I  - 


(ii  oik. i    II  wtRis.  DA)..  I.I..1)..  President 

l)ii  il  Mnrrh  1.  :.'.•.' 

John    M.  Tym  ii  .  I'm.  1). .  1 .1 ..  I )..  Clerk  ( I  i:oik.  i    (iii  i  i: .  Treasurer 


THE  JONES  LIBRARY 

herst,  should  be  his  heirs.  For  them  his  money  should 
be  expended,  to  provide  a  free  public  library.  A  suit- 
able building  should  be  erected  and  an  ample  endow- 
ment provided  for  its  perpetual  support.  He  would 
not  follow  the  plan  of  making  his  gift  a  burden  to  those 
receiving  it,  requiring  them  to  tax  themselves  forever 
to  perpetuate  a  memorial  in  his  own  honor.  The  Jones 
Library  is  a  free  gift  to  the  people  of  Amherst  without 
money  and  without  price  and  without  any  onerous  stipu- 
lations. He  believed  that  the  name  of  his  father, 
Thomas  Jones,  and  of  his  mother,  Mary  Minot  Jones, 
and  of  the  Jones  family  that  during  the  generations  had 
wrought  so  much  for  the  public  good,  was  worthy  of 
remembrance.  He  would  have  them  remembered  not 
because  of  a  huge  mausoleum  which  should  emphasize 
their  superiority  to  common  folks,  but  have  them 
through  their  library  be  constantly  inspiring  each  suc- 
ceeding generation  to  attain  more  and  more  knowledge, 
wisdom,  virtue  and  happiness. 

In  his  choice  of  men  to  found  the  library  and  to  estab- 
lish it  upon  a  sure  basis  he  again  showed  his  good  judg- 
ment. John  Mason  Tyler  was  the  son  of  a  dear  friend 
of  his  mother  and  one  of  the  younger  boys  he  knew 
before  he  left  for  the  West,  a  native  of  Amherst,  who 
from  his  lifelong  educational  work  in  the  town  knew 
the  needs  of  the  people  and  how  best  to  supply  them. 
George  Cutler,  Jr.,  he  knew  intimately  from  his  child- 
hood and  discerned  in  him  genuine  business  ability 
joined  to  public  spirit  and  a  love  for  Amherst,  his  birth- 
place. George  Harris,  president  of  Amherst  College, 
he  knew  by  reputation  as  a  New  Englander  from  the 
state  of  Maine,  an  educator,  an  administrator,  a  minister 

91 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

of  the  gospel,  of  excellent  judgment  and  long  experi- 
ence. These  three  men  he  chose  as  trustees  to  whom, 
without  any  burdensome  restrictions,  he  confidently 
committed  his  fortune  to  be  expended  in  buying  a  lot, 
erecting  a  fireproof  building,  establishing  an  endowment 
and  organizing  and  equipping  the  library.  In  order 
that  the  town  might  at  length  come  into  full  control  of 
his  gift,  his  will  provided  further  that  vacancies  occur- 
ring in  the  board  of  trustees  shall  be  filled  by  vote  of 
the  town  at  its  annual  meeting. 

The  will  was  duly  admitted  to  probate  and  after  the 
death  of  the  son,  Minot  Jones,  before  he  had  attained 
his  majority,  the  trustees  secured  a  special  act  of  the 
legislature  of  Massachusetts  incorporating  the  library 
with  the  three  men  named  in  the  will  as  trustees.  The 
act  provided  that  the  corporation  shall  be  authorized  to 
purchase,  or  with  the  consent  of  the  town  given  by  vote 
at  a  meeting  legally  called  for  that  purpose,  to  acquire 
by  eminent  domain,  a  suitable  lot  of  land  and  to  erect 
thereon  a  fireproof  building  for  the  accommodation  of 
said  library,  to  maintain  an  endowment  fund  for  its 
support,  and  to  carry  out  and  fulfill  in  all  respects,  in  so 
far  as  they  relate  to  said  library,  the  provisions  of  the 
will;  that  the  selectmen  may  require  the  trustees  and 
their  successors  to  give  bonds  for  the  faithful  perform- 
ance of  their  duties;  that  the  corporation  shall  make  an 
annual  report  to  the  town  duly  audited;  that  vacancies 
shall  be  filled  by  vote  at  an  annual  town  meeting  to 
serve  for  three  years  and  that  after  the  death  of  the  last 
survivor  of  the  original  trustees  the  town  may  so  arrange 
that  one  trustee  shall  be  thereafter  elected  annually  for 
the  term  of  three  years.     This  act  of  incorporation  was 

1)2 


THE  JONES  LIBRARY 

approved  by  Governor  Calvin  Coolidge,  March  21, 
1919. 

With  the  receipt  of  this  authority  "The  Jones  Library 
Incorporated"  was  organized  with  George  Harris,  presi- 
dent; John  M.  Tyler,  clerk;  and  George  Cutler,  Jr., 
treasurer.  The  Morristown  Trust  Company  of  New 
Jersey  immediately  after  the  death  of  Minot  Jones  pro- 
ceeded to  settle  the  estate  according  to  the  terms  of  the 
will.  The  real  estate  was  sold  and  January  1,  1921,  the 
treasurer,  George  Cutler,  Jr.,  received  the  income  from 
all  the  securities  and  The  First  National  Bank  of  Am- 
herst was  appointed  fiscal  agent  of  the  corporation.  The 
total  amount  received  by  the  trustees  from  the  Morris- 
town  Trust  Company  was:  stocks,  $241,998;  bonds, 
$405,207;  cash,  $14,542.08;  total,  $661,747.08.  The  net 
income  received  from  these  securities  for  fourteen 
months  was  $44,226.88.  The  total  expense  for  the  same 
period,  ending  December  31,  1921,  was  $29,608.21.  This 
covered  the  entire  cost  of  organizing  the  present  library 
as  now  operated,  including  equipment,  books,  periodi- 
cals, supplies,  rent,  insurance,  trust  management  and 
incidental  expenses.  The  trustees  adopted  the  policy  of 
reinvesting  and  turning  into  principal  all  surplus  of 
funds  not  required  for  operating  the  library. 

After  qualifying  for  their  trust,  the  three  trustees 
found  their  most  important  task  to  be  the  appointment 
of  a  librarian.  This  position  was  one  for  which  many 
librarians  might  eagerly  seek,  but  the  trustees  de- 
termined that  the  Jones  librarian  must  be  more  than  a 
cataloger  and  keeper  of  books,  more  than  an  expert  in 
architecture  and  in  booklore,  more  than  a  business  ad- 
ministrator and  executive,  more  than  a  figurehead,  more 

93 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JOXES 

than  an  embodiment  of  the  latest  fads  in  bibliography. 
lie  must  be  a  man  of  vision,  one  capable  of  compre- 
hending the  end  for  which  a  free  public  library  designed 
to  serve  the  common  town's  people  of  Amherst  should 
exist  and  persist  and  one  who  should  be  able  to  secure 
at  all  times  the  adaptation  of  efficient  means  for  the 
accomplishment  of  this  end. 

The  trustees,  therefore,  instead  of  going  far  to  fare 
the  worse,  found  the  man  for  the  place,  not  in  the 
metropolis,  not  across  the  seas,  but  right  in  the  town  of 
Amherst,  one  of  the  townspeople,  Charles  R.  Green. 
After  having  been  graduated  Bachelor  of  Agriculture 
in  189.5  from  the  Connecticut  Agricultural  College,  he 
was  employed  in  various  capacities  on  The  Courant  of 
Hartford,  Connecticut.  He  was  soon,  however,  put  in 
charge  of  the  library  of  the  editorial  department.  He 
made  himself  so  useful  in  collecting  material  and  putting 
it  in  such  shape  that  the  writers  could  get  what  they 
needed  at  a  minute's  notice,  that  he  attracted  the  attention 
of  the  Connecticut  state  librarian,  who  called  him  from 
the  newspaper  office  and  set  him  to  work  in  the  State 
Library,  where  he  remained  for  seven  years,  from  1901 
to  1908.  When  Kenyon  L.  Butterfield  succeeded  Henry 
II.  Goodell  as  president  of  the  Massachusetts  Agri- 
cultural College,  he  found  Mr.  Green  to  be  the  one  man 
he  must  have  to  build  up  the  college  library.  For  thir- 
teen years  he  served  the  college  with  great  efficiency,  de- 
vising and  putting  into  successful  execution  new  plans 
for  increasing  not  only  the  number  of  new  books,  but 
also  the  number  of  people  who  should  make  the  best  use 
of  the  facilities  of  the  library.  Branch  libraries  were 
placed  in  the  fraternity  houses  and  in  the  several  depart- 

94 


THE  JONES  LIBRARY 

ments  of  the  college.  Traveling  libraries  were  sent  out 
to  rural  communities  throughout  the  state.  Lists  of 
helpful  books  were  made  and  distributed  to  secure  more 
readers  and  better  reading. 

Librarian  Green  made  the  acquaintance  of  the  people 
of  this  and  other  towns  and  worked  to  interest  the  young 
and  old  in  the  best  books  that  he  could  furnish  for  their 
highest  culture.  He  aimed  to  know  the  book,  the  reader 
and  how  to  make  the  reader  choose  his  book  and  get  out 
of  it  into  his  own  head  the  best  ideas  as  food  for  thought, 
sentiments  to  cherish  and  motives  to  action.  After  care- 
ful consideration  Mr.  Green  accepted  the  call  of  the 
trustees  and  began  September,  1921,  his  work  as  libra- 
rian of  The  Jones  Library. 

The  trustees  decided  that  the  present  unsettled  condi- 
tions in  the  building  trades  and  in  the  financial  situation 
of  the  country  were  unfavorable  for  erecting  a  library 
building  that  would  be  a  fitting  memorial  and  suitable 
for  the  work  to  be  accomplished.  It  seemed  best  to  them 
first  to  organize  the  library  as  a  working  institution,  to 
find  out  the  real  needs  of  the  community  and  then  later, 
when  the  favorable  time  should  come,  to  select  the  site 
and  construct  on  it  a  building  adapted  in  the  best  possi- 
ble manner  to  secure  the  ends  the  donor  desired  should 
be  accomplished. 

The  second  floor  of  the  Amherst  House  was  leased  for 
three  years  and  fitted  up  and  equipped  with  whatever 
was  necessary  for  the  maintenance  of  a  people's  library. 
A  reading-room,  well  lighted,  was  provided  with  periodi- 
cals and  the  latest  books  for  consultation  and  for  home 
circulation.  A  children's  room  was  filled  with  the  best 
juvenile  books   and  papers.     An   assembly-room   was 

95 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

put  at  the  disposal  of  literary  and  other  organizations 
for  lectures  and  discussions.  A  study,  removed  from 
the  delivery-room,  attracted  those  who  wished  to  do 
special  work  or  hold  committee  meetings.  A  stackroom 
with  steel  shelves  furnished  room  for  hooks  not  in  con- 
stant use.  A  librarian's  office  and  trustees'  room  was 
furnished  with  needed  facilities  for  the  business  of  ad- 
ministration. Storerooms  and  restrooms  and  work- 
rooms completed  the  apartment.  Located  at  the  center 
of  Amherst's  business  life,  at  the  meeting  place  of  the 
town's  thoroughfares,  The  Jones  Library  attracted 
public  attention  from  the  first  and  led  all  classes  of  the 
people  to  use  freely  the  privileges  offered.  From  the 
opening  of  the  library,  September  7,  1921,  to  December 
31,  less  than  four  months,  out  of  a  population  of  5.530  in 
the  town  there  was  a  registration  of  1108.  an  attendance 
of  11,701  and  a  circulation  of  10,632.  The  number  of 
books  on  hand  was  2890. 

The  plan  adopted  is  one  of  growth  from  small  be- 
ginnings to  greater  attainments.  Instead  of  buying 
books  by  the  thousands,  they  are  procured  one  by  one  as 
the  need  for  them  is  shown  and  their  worth  is  proven. 
The  Converse  Library  at  Amherst  College  and  the 
Agricultural  College  Library,  the  first  with  its  12.5,000 
volumes  and  the  latter  with  70,000  cataloged  books,  pro- 
vide for  the  needs  of  college  faculties  and  students,  so 
that  The  Jones  Library  has  for  its  special  field  the  needs 
of  the  men.  the  women  and  the  children  of  the  towns- 
people. 

The  Xew  England  home  such  as  that  in  which  Samuel 
Minot  Jones  was  born  and  reared  is  passing.  The  Xew 
England  country  church  no  longer  dominates  the  com- 

90 


THE  JONES  LIBRARY 

munity.  The  town  is  no  longer  homogeneous.  Instead 
of  a  few  Yankee  families  constituting  a  society  follow- 
ing the  same  customs,  cherishing  the  same  sentiments, 
obedient  to  the  same  moral  standards,  there  is  now  a 
heterogeneous  mass  of  immigrants,  of  native  born,  and 
of  sojourners  from  all  parts  of  our  own  land.  The 
Polish  people  are  cultivating  the  farms;  the  Greeks  are 
competing  in  trade;  Italians,  Chinese,  French,  Japa- 
nese, Irish  and  others  are  making  homes  in  the  village 
and  in  the  open  country.  How  shall  they  and  their  chil- 
dren be  Americanized  and  so  blended  into  a  composite 
society  as  to  make  our  democracy  safe,  sound  and 
secure?  The  church  is  so  divided  into  sects  that  the 
task,  at  least  for  the  present,  is  too  great  for  it.  The 
public  schools  are  wrestling  valiantly  with  the  problem 
and  are  attempting  to  teach  things  practical  and  theo- 
retical, handicrafts,  business,  sanitation,  civics,  science, 
morals,  physical  culture,  art,  music,  agriculture,  sew- 
ing, cooking;  but  alone  they  cannot  accomplish  the 
impossible. 

In  this  emergency  The  Jones  Library,  in  the  spirit  of 
its  founder,  is  coming  opportunely  with  its  offer  of 
assistance  to  the  schools,  to  the  churches,  to  the  family. 
The  Jones  fortune,  instead  of  ministering  to  the  need 
of  one  boy,  Minot  Jones,  his  father's  only  child,  has  in 
the  providence  of  God  come  to  help  all  the  boys  and  all 
the  girls  of  Amherst  and  vicinity  without  respect  of 
race,  religion  or  social  station,  and  to  the  relief  of  their 
parents  as  well. 

The  scholar  who  goes  to  school  from  his  father's 
library,  where  from  his  infancy  he  has  lived  and  played 
with  books  and  pictures  and  music,  and  listened  to  the 

97 


SAMUEL  MIXOT  JONES 

stories  of  his  parents'  guests  who  have  gathered  about 
the  fireplace  in  the  library  on  a  winter's  night,  or  sat  by 
the  open  window  on  a  summer's  day,  has  an  exceeding 
great  advantage  over  the  child  who  goes  to  the  school- 
room from  a  house  or  an  apartment  destitute  of  any 
such  thing  as  a  library.  Such  a  child  has  missed  the 
inspiration  of  the  best  thought  of  the  great  thinkers  and 
singers  of  the  present  and  of  the  past;  he  has  no  taste 
for  books;  he  knows  not  how  to  read;  his  imagination 
has  never  been  kindled  by  visions  and  vistas  of  the  great 
and  glorious  world;  he  has  no  friends  in  the  realm  of 
literature:  his  horizon  is  limited;  he  is  like  one  in  the 
bottom  of  a  well  with  none  to  help  him  climb  to  the  top. 

It  is  the  purpose  of  the  trustees  of  The  Jones  Library 
to  make  it  a  home  library;  a  place  where  any  and  every 
child  of  Amherst  may  come  and  make  himself  at  home; 
where  he  can  help  himself  to  whatever  his  mind  or  heart 
shall  crave ;  where  he  can  see  the  best  pictures,  hear  the 
best  stories  told,  listen  to  the  best  music,  learn  the  mystic 
open  sesame  that  shall  reveal  marvelous  treasures  all  his 
own  for  the  taking. 

The  trustees  plan  to  make  The  Jones  Library  a  place 
where  teachers  in  Sunday  school,  in  the  day  school,  in 
the  pulpit,  in  the  home,  in  women's  and  in  men's  clubs, 
shall  find  the  book,  the  paper,  the  information,  they 
require  to  make  their  teaching  a  success;  a  place  where 
the  working  man,  or  woman,  ambitious  to  excel  and  rise 
to  higher  positions,  shall  find  every  facility  for  master- 
ing the  courses  of  study  he  has  determined  to  pursue. 

There  are  library  schools  where  one  is  trained  to 
catalog  books  and  to  become  a  librarian.     The  Jones 

98 


THE  JONES  LIBRARY 

Library  is  designed  to  teach  the  people  how  to  use  a 
library  for  their  own  pleasure  and  profit.  The  progress 
of  machinery,  the  eight-hour  laws,  the  multiplication  of 
holidays,  are  all  increasing  the  amount  of  leisure  time 
the  common  people  have  at  their  disposal.  What  shall 
they  do  with  it?  If  they  waste  it,  or  worse,  abuse  it,  our 
democracy  and  our  civilization  will  degenerate  and  be 
destroyed.  But  if  this  leisure  be  rightly  valued  and  im- 
proved, the  common  people  will  grow  in  wisdom  and  in 
stature,  and  in  favor  with  God  and  man,  and  humanity 
in  due  time  will  develop  sons  of  God.  The  powers  of 
nature  are  so  tremendous  that  the  man  who  holds  them 
in  his  hand  must  not  only  be  wise,  he  must  also  be  trust- 
worthy ;  otherwise  Jove's  thunderbolts  will  destroy  both 
those  against  whom  they  are  hurled  and  also  him  from 
whose  hand  they  explode.  Every  town  in  Massachu- 
setts, with  one  or  two  exceptions,  has  a  public  library. 
Our  whole  country  from  east  to  west  is  filled  with 
libraries.  The  duty  of  the  hour  is  to  attract  the  multi- 
tudes within  their  doors  and  show  the  individual  man 
and  woman,  boy  and  girl,  how  to  use  them  for  their 
own  salvation  and  for  the  welfare  of  the  human  race. 

Let  The  Jones  Library  become  a  school  for  the  mul- 
tiplication of  the  number  of  readers,  so  that  each  year 
from  its  reading-room  shall  go  forth  young  people  with 
a  passion  for  reading,  such  as  shall  inspire  them  to  put 
into  practice  what  the  best  thought  of  the  world  reveals 
for  the  practical  benefit  of  themselves  and  their  fellow 
men,  then  Samuel  Minot  Jones  will  not  have  labored  in 
vain,  nor  will  his  son,  Minot,  have  died  in  vain  on  his 
cot  in  the  Base  Hospital  during  the  World  War. 

99 


SAMUEL  MINOT  JONES 

Robert  Frost,  the  poet,  while  teaching  in  Amherst 
College,  in  season  and  out  of  season  said  to  his  students : 
"Be  a  Reader!  Be  a  Reader!"  This  message  of  the 
poet  might  well  be  emblazoned  on  the  walls  of  the  new 
Jones  Library:  "Be  a  Reader!    Be  a  Reader!" 


100 


THE  LIBRARY 
UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

Santa  Barbara 


THIS  BOOK  IS  DUE  ON   THE  LAST  DATE 
STAMPED  BELOW. 


A  A      000  076  431     6 


